Clash of the Legends
by twobagelscollide
Summary: Legendary Pokémon are caught in a fierce and unrelenting struggle for who's right and who's wrong. Neither side in any of their conflicts is giving in easily, and they are attacking the very core of their opponent's being. It's life or death, it's right vs. wrong, it's... an argument.
1. The sprite fight

**A/N: This is a collab between Rioludoodle and I. Rio was the one who suggested that I turn our conversation into a fan fiction so make sure you give credit to her as well if you manage to find me first.**

***edit* added a lot more details &description after some advice, so it should be better now**

**Twobagelscollide: Uxie  
Rio: Mesprit**

* * *

Mesprit and Uxie were in cave for a rare meeting between the three siblings, but Azelf had yet to arrive. A few years ago when they all met up they had had a fierce argument about who was the most important of the three. The pinkish-red sprite quickly remembered this and struggled to control her anger at her over-analytical, self-righteous brother Uxie. Last time Azelf had drained them of their will to argue and there was never a conclusion to the argument. Mesprit glanced at her brother, Uxie. _But now that Azelf isn't here..._

"You know there is a reason I'm considered the spirit of emotion. Without emotions and feelings, people would be heartless, analytical, unfeeling, uncaring, apathetic drones! Humans and Pokémon alike would suffer from a monotonous indifference to life itself! I am just as, if not more, important than you, Uxie!" Mesprit began yelling, her temper quickly gaining in momentum.

Uxie floated unaffected, his blind gaze fixated on Mesprit. "Can something truly suffer without emotion? Without the power to learn, beings would also cease to be analytical. But with my power creatures can learn from their mistakes and success to remember them for future encounters."

The yellow sprite paused for a short moment. "As a whole, without my gift of intelligence nothing would grow past its original state. Human technology would be nonexistent because they would not remember or learn from the experiences that spark the intuition needed to develop a more suitable tool for the job. Instincts would not exist because instincts are reactions to particular scenarios that were helpful and passed down through generations, without learning from these occurrences no instincts would have been passed down and the world would be at a progressive stand still." Uxie calmly stated.

The way he droned on monotonously made it seem like he was just as interested in the stalactites on the ceiling of the cave as he was in the argument with his offended sister. Mesprit's face contorted further with every word that came out of Uxie's mouth, the pink sprite holding onto her opinion until she felt ready to burst.

"It's emotion that gives people a conscience!" Mesprit cried out, inching upwards as she spoke. "Emotions are Guilt, Kindness, Happiness, Care, Passion, Anger, Love, Sadness, and everything in between! It's emotions that define reactions to circumstances, and personalities! Without Emotion, there would be no individuality!" Mesprit waved her arms and gestured as she argued. "And without emotions, we wouldn't be arguing right now!"

"You're hypothesis is incorrect sister." Uxie's monotone voice interjected, barely letting Mesprit finish her sentence. "Individuality is derived from the experiences unique to each specific consciousness. Without Intellect there would be no pursuit of the self because nothing would understand that it mattered. With past experiences forgotten, the instant any interaction exits the perception of a creature they would promptly lose awareness of it."

The Sun was illuminating the mouth of the cave brightly, being currently at its highest intensity. The light reflected off of a congregation of puddles caught Mesprit's peripheral vision and she shifted her position so to be casting a shadow on her brother. Uxie made sure his voice was heard clearly by slowly following the change in his sister's position, but continued to talk.

"This concerns intelligence explicitly, because you can only truly care about whom you are, if you remember what others are like and their opinions about you" Uxie lectured, unmoving in his levitated position and eyelids still trained in Mesprit's direction. "As for reactions to situations, logic prevails in that area as well. Obtaining information from other sources and applying it to resolve problems is the nature of my very existence."

Mesprit floated closer and glared at Uxie, "I'm glaring, just so you know." She cleared her throat and began her speech, "Emotion is what drives us! You say that you need Intellect in order to care, but without Emotion, it wouldn't be _possible_ to care! I agree that Intellect is important, but I would rather be a slow-witted Slowpoke with Emotion than a super genius Alakazam without! People make advances in technology, video games, television, computers, in order to please themselves with entertainment! And those who make and sell that technology do it either out of Greed, or Love for what they do!"

Each sentence seemed to escalate in volume only to drop after each momentary pause. During the infinitesimal moments of silence a powerful echo reverberated around the dimensions of the cave.

Mesprit stopped to take a breath, and then continued before Uxie could cut her off. "Science advancements are done out of_ Curiosity_! I admit, there are _good_ emotions, Love, Happiness, Curiosity and the like, and there are also_ bad_ emotions, Greed, Anger, and Fear. But, there _is_ a bad side to Intelligence! Intellect makes it possible to make technology like planes that can transport things, but also makes it possible to make weapons… including _Nuclear_ weapons. If Emotion outweighed Intellect in every person, perhaps Passion and Understanding would exist throughout the world." She crossed her arms, finished for the moment.

Uxie sighed, a rare show of emotion from him. "You talk magnanimously about the atrocities of Intellect; however, what of the corrupt portion of emotions? Have you simply forgotten what loathing, hubris, voracity, rage, and terror truly are? They are the sentiments that drive conflict, human or Pokémon."

He quickly continued, "Pokémon attack trespassers who invade their territory, because they are irritated or fearful. If atomic bombs weren't required for destructive domination in that great human war they might have never invented it. The only motive for fighting in the first place is gluttony and the insatiable desire for more land and resources." The calmness and apathetic attitude with which Uxie had delivered his statements made it seem as if he was indifferent to the argument, but Mesprit understood his position well.

The sprite continued trying to prove his point. "Without those emotions and therefore war, far more scientific advancements could be made in peaceful research and developmental fields. By this point human technology should have advanced to the point where they and Pokémon can communicate freely which would promote cohabitation among the entire planet. Your passion and understanding are not comparable to the violence and destruction that hatred causes. In conclusion I'm saying that the world would be more efficient without emotions in the first place."

Uxie's words were cold and yellow-headed sprite drifted closer to his sibling. He paused in his speech for a moment, but quickly raised a hand to silence the retorts of his sister before she could unleash her emotional fury.

"If emotions are so inferior to intellect originally, then why can I wipe the memory of any organism by opening my eyes, when all you can do with yours is cry?" His words were flat and emotionless, yet they somehow gave the impression of a taunting attitude.

Mesprit was a little hurt, but truthfully did not expect anything less when she started an argument with Uxie… still that didn't make it right.

She angrily retorted, "Because there are _some_ people who deserve to lose all recollection, but _all_ people need Emotion!" Mesprit waved her arms around for emphasis. "You say that without Emotion there would be no war, but as I've said before, _Emotion_ is what _drives_ us! Without Emotion, you would have no reason to make those scientific advances you speak of! You say that_ Hatred_ causes violence and destruction, but without your_ Intellect_, no one would have the tools to cause it!"

Mesprit could have sworn a small smile was present on Uxie's lips which seemed to contradict the emotion set forth in her side of the argument.

"Within your argument lies its own counterargument." Uxie said nonchalantly. "Without my Intellect no one would have tools, no creature would be able to do anything besides what they can do with their most basic abilities. Without learning, Pokémon would be limited to the moves they obtain at birth" Uxie's abrupt stop was incredibly brief "creativity…innovation. How can one be creative when they are limited to their most basic mechanisms throughout their entire lives? Nothing would know when to stop or surrender without intelligence. Harmful past experiences would hold no merit and therefore would be repeated." Uxie continued to lecture as Mesprit stared him down.

Mesprit grew tired of her unrequited frustration and anger, apparently at her own expense. It was time to try something different. The sun's assault on the mouth of the cave ended and was replaced with gentler lighting.

Mesprit moved closer to Uxie in a non-hostile position and took a deep breath. "I know that Intellect is important, but what I'm saying is that it's not _as_ important as Emotion." Mesprit replied in a more calm tone than her previous statements, "Keep this in mind, who would have a better lifestyle: A person who is smart and intelligent, but has little Emotion? Meaning they do not care for things, and do not hate or love. Or a person who would be considered stupid, but is kind and feels empathy? Answer me_ that_." She added the last portion with confidence.

"Simple. One with emotions but little intellect and one that doesn't care have mathematically identical averages." Uxie instructed, his voice sounded like he was teaching a class. "With emotions come crests and troughs, positives and negatives of life, with each experience cancelling out another. When emotions are not present, the being is in a constant state of neutrality never experiencing either. Why should you add and subtract ones when the answer is merely always zero? What is the point of being kind to others if it is destined to be negated?" Uxie's questions were filled with invisible condescension toward his sister.

Mesprit opened her mouth to retort, but then closed it again. She was fed up with how her brother failed to understand how logic, especially_ math_ couldn't be applied to Emotion. Tired of arguing and in a semi-defeated tone she said, "You know, maybe both Emotion and Intellect are just as important as each other."

The tension that once filled their surroundings immediately evacuated at the first sign of argumentative surrender, but it didn't stay that way for long.

"They are both important to keep some semblance of balance… But at least intelligence can transcend generations whereas emotion-" a loud and annoyed grunt interrupted Uxie.

Floating at the entrance of the cave was the Willpower Pokémon, Azelf, who was noticeably displeased. "I have had _enough_ of you two and your pointless bickering! You're both important, and you're brother and sister, so_ stop fighting_! I'll give you 10 seconds to resolve this on your own, or I will make you stop arguing."

Uxie's blind gaze drifted back to Mesprit. "It seems we have reached an impasse, we will have to continue at a later da-"

"Uxie, resolve and _not_ postpone" Azelf warned.

"Aw, I'm sorry Uxie. It looks like we both got carried away; we're all just as important as one another like we've always been." Mesprit sweetly apologized.

"Understandable, apology acknowledged." Uxie said with indifference.

"I guess that's the best you're going to get Sis." Azelf sighed, "The meeting can wait until later, and right now you two need to cool off. Go take a walk or something." The azure sprite made sure that his siblings left the cave and flew off in separate directions. He stayed in the mouth of the cave and groaned, "This is going to be a _long_ day."

* * *

**AN from Rio:** Hello to the readers of this fic. My username is rioludoodle, but I'd prefer it to be shortened to Rio. This chapter is just one of hopefully many to come, so please review and tell us what you think. Uxie here is analytical like the Uxie from Cornova's Poke Wars series but more emotionally driven, if you've read The Incipience, give a round of reviews to Uxie the Frozen Carrot!(I think that describes his personality pretty well.)


	2. Silver and Gold

**A/N from TBC: This was difficult because while I was writing this I learned so many new things about writing in general, which caused some snags to say the least.**

**Twobagelscollide: Ho-oh  
Rio: Lugia**

* * *

An iridescent rainbow glistened behind Ho-oh as he sped toward the Orange Islands. Once he approached Lugia's home area the scattered cottony clouds gave way to clear cobalt skies. In the distance, a speck of silver broke the surface of the water sending ripple-like waves rolling toward the jagged rocky shores of the nearest island. The form advanced and manifested into the guardian of the sea, who was approaching the descending Ho-oh. They both slowed to a halt, each flapping rhythmically to maintain their altitude within a comfortable distance between the two.

"Ho-oh, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Lugia asked, surprised by the sudden visit from an old friend. The last bits of water that had hitchhiked on Lugia fell the long distance to the ocean below.

"To resolve something I've had on my mind for some time." Ho-oh decided to skip the formalities and got straight to alleviating some long withheld comments. "From the very beginning I gave the population of this world something beautiful to look at. Smeargle looked at my rainbows and learned how to paint in color, in turn sharing it with the rest of the Human world and creating art. How exactly do you guard an ocean by sleeping at the bottom of it, and taking care of a wife and child?" His words carried intentional bitterness, and hatred.

Lugia had no idea what this rant was about or where it came from. Nonetheless he was offended by sudden insult "But I keep Zapdos, Moltres, and Articuno in line." Lugia countered "Without me, the world's weather systems would spiral into absolute chaos!"

The once peaceful air that occupied that area began to churn between the two giant creatures as their wing beats intersected.

Ho-oh scoffed, "Without you they wouldn't have been brought to life in the first place, plus Entei, Raikou and Suicune worship me and wouldn't do anything without my permission, as should your legendary birds!" he reprimanded the silver legendary.

Lugia erased all traces of friendliness from his voice, and his facial expression turned serious.

"Wouldn't do anything without your permission, eh?" Lugia's suggested as his expression changed from one of seriousness to a glower, "Sounds to me like they're afraid of you, like they're your slaves. The legendary birds have their own wishes and desires, as long as it's nothing bad, I respect them. Your dogs must have their own dreams and wishes, yet you say they do nothing without your permission, it sounds to me like you see them as your property!" the words Lugia spoke carried fervency.

Ho-oh's golden tail feather's flared out in defiance of the accusation, and his eyes grew intense.

"They're not afraid of me; they respect me for giving them life! I don't see an ounce of the respect _you_ deserve from those insolent brats of yours! And when they start to fight you can't even control it on your own, you need to rely on _humans_ to help you" Ho-oh spat with anger, but then lowered his voice.

"Besides it's not like I'm forcing them to worship me…there isn't even a punishment if they were to leave. Property or not they stay of their own free will." The Guardian of the sky caught himself getting worked up and returned to his earlier composed posture.

"At least I'm not too proud to let someone help." Lugia replied forcefully, "Or too afraid. You are rarely seen and never come into contact with anyone!"

The shouting match and Hulking figures were hard to ignore for the nearby island. The edge of the nearest island became adorned with small groups of curious Pokémon desperately trying to discern the reason behind this confrontation. None that could fly were brave or stupid enough to interfere with meetings that looked this important or threatening. All of them kept their distance, desperately trying to avoid detection from the pair of legendary Pokémon.

"I am _not_ afraid, none of the humans or their submissive Pokémon are deserving of my presence!" Ho-oh retorted "You think YOU would have more sense than to call me a slave owner when humans run around imprisoning anyone for their own entertainment!"

As the passionate words were spoken the frequency of the red and green wings faltered multiple times forcing the adjustment of his position.

Hints of disgust were mixed into the slurry of negativity from the Rainbow Pokémon. "Pride? You want to talk about pride, to me? You have no Pride! You would reveal yourself to anyone who knows how to play an instrument! Whereas I search for the pure-hearted… or lack thereof in this case!"

The sky darkened as a distant cumulonimbus cloud slowly eclipsed the low set sun, showing off the intensity of Ho-oh's ethereal multi-colored glow.

"You look down upon the human race." Lugia frowned, "You see them all as greedy slave drivers when in reality only a small portion are like that. This could be your undoing one day; all who exist on this planet are equal."

Ho-oh continued, "You say that we are all equal? What about the fact that we have to hide ourselves away from human civilization because they would try to enslave us and they are afraid of our power? What about the criminal organizations and that despicable human that tried to capture all of your birds? Do they deserve equality?"

Lugia suddenly became psychically cognizant of an observing group of flying type Pokémon off to his side. They were unaware of their detection and glued to the argument with their full attention. The sea guardian thought, '_This conversation is no longer private, but how could it have ever been with all this yelling?'_

"They do." Lugia replied firmly, shifting his mental focus back to that task at hand. "As I said before, only a small handful is as corrupted as you say. But you know as well as I that Pokémon can have villainous intent too. Humans just have an easier time getting resources to complete that goal."

The guardian of the sky became more furious as Lugia's demeanor was now tranquil and he was seemingly unaffected by anything he was saying. Consequently Ho-oh knew he needed a more powerful tactic to sway his opinion.

"Do you even know what they did to your brother? Do you even care about how he has been tortured the past few years? How can you judge anything, when you haven't even taken the time to witness that which I have observed!?" Ho-oh words dripping with venom. "Did you visit Latias when her brother was killed by a gang of humans? How about the tree of beginning, humans nearly poisoned the tree and almost cost Mew her life. A Lucario had to DIE there to save a group of humans! Need I go on?"

Lugia was appalled that his friend from long ago would resort to these sensitive topics with such malice. '_This has to be about something completely different' _he thought. He felt the mental shock of the Pidgey and Wingull that had congregated in the distant vicinity of the fight.

Apparently Lugia's eyes drifted to the side because Ho-oh cast a sharp glance towards whatever was distracting the silver avian. Instantly this scared off the spectators and the rainbow Pokémon became livid when their retreat location was sprinkled with onlookers, like his life was one of those stupid human reality TV shows, it was…humiliating.

"I believe that time can heal my brother. And while you say that you have observed all the incidents, I had to live through one!" Lugia retorted, "You watch and observe, but you never take part! I was hunted by a human during the Shamouti fiasco while you sat back and did nothing!" he took a moment to calm down a little and continued. "And you haven't even taken the time to get your facts straight. Latios was captured by two humans, and then rescued by another group of humans. I think that makes it neutral. And he sacrificed himself to save his sister and everyone, human or Pokémon, who lived in Alto Mare."

Lugia paused for a moment and glanced over at the small island and sighed, 'A_t least someone is enjoying this_.' The wall of Pokémon thinned with the unexpected sudden attention. '_I hope this doesn't escalate… too many would be in the crossfire.'_

"And as for the Tree of Beginning," Lugia continued "I've visited Mew there, and she has no qualms about the humans who came to her home. In fact, she admits that she was the one who had given them cause to come in the first place!"

Ho-oh could not believe the impudence of the disrespect the Pokémon were showing them by ignoring their right to privacy, 'I_s this how he runs things around here? Pathetic, these Pokémon need to be kept in line!' _The rainbow avian wanted to teach them a lesson but he could not turn his attention away from the very cause of this collective disobedient attitude.

"That's exactly my point!" Ho-oh erupted, "Without the destructive influence of these humans we wouldn't need protection in the first place!" Ho-oh's temper showed no signs of cooling down "Each and every time it's the same scenario… humans transgress, then others have to address the aftermath. Almost always someone comes close to dying or being captured! Why can't you see how great it would be if they were all gone?"

The words hung in the air as if fighting parents had just screamed a swear word at a child's birthday party.

"How great it would be if they were gone?" Lugia glared, "There are thousands of Pokémon on this planet who care about humans. And many Pokémon have lifestyles that depend on humans being there. If humans just disappeared, there would be hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of Pokémon who wouldn't know what to do with themselves! There are those who are gravely injured and or have conditions, those who depend on human Pokémon Centers for treatment and care."

The murmurs Lugia felt psychically were those of disagreement and confusion. Most of the wild Pokémon hadn't ever been in contact with humans their entire lives. He felt one young Sentret ask, "Mommy, what's a human?" Without eavesdropping any further Lugia's attention returned to the argument at hand. He hopped it wasn't too obvious that he was concentrating on something else.

"And you say that each and every time it's humans who cause the near death or capture of us. Pokémon fight too, even legendaries, ESPECIALLY legendries. Have you forgotten that Kyogre and Groudon try to kill each other every time they meet? That Dialga and Palkia always attack each other first, think it through later? And even though humans cause many near disastrous incidents, they will also help to fix them? Name one fiasco humankind has caused that they have yet to make amends for."

Ho-oh, caught off guard by the content of the reply, fumbled with his words a bit before finally forming a coherent sentence.

"Those that submit to human domination are indignant and do not warrant pity! The Pokémon have become complacent, blindly following instead of taking the positions of equality they deserve! Why am I the bad guy when they don't even show us even an ounce of respect?!"

Ho-oh writhed with anger, flapping his wings pointlessly and furiously to hover above his previous position. Embers spewed in multiple directions with every sharp consonant.

"They build us towers, monuments and cities but over time those monuments are forgotten, repurposed and defiled! Sure, we cause trouble every now and then, but who do they think they are, destroying a world that WE created for THEM!" Ho-oh panted heavily from his fiery rant, glaring at Lugia.

"You say that Pokémon who are captured by humans become complacent and blindly follow." Lugia countered with an attitude as calm as his opponent was furious. "And how do you know this? Perhaps they simply wish to no longer have to do everything on their own. While a captured Pokémon battles for the trainer, they are also often treated kindly and fairly in return. And while humas did build monuments and temples to honor us once long ago, did we ever ask for them? No, humankind built those monuments of their own volition, so they should have the right to do with those monuments what they will. As long as it doesn't mock or threaten us, of course."

The soft waves of Lugia's soothing voice started to erase the tension an unease caused by Ho-oh and his vicious disposition.

Lugia paused in his speech before continuing, "You say that we created this world for them? Hah! Get your facts straight, Ho-oh. Arceus created this universe and everything in it. That means the air we breathe, the water we drink, the ground below and this planet itself. Arceus created you, me, humans, and Pokémon, we are meant to share this place. And last time I checked, humans are starting to clean up."

Ho-oh seethed with resentment whilst struggling to come up with a worthy counterargument. "You…why are you in such favor of humanity… why can't you see them for what they truly are… despicable creatures that need an ego reduction!" He shot an infuriated glare at Lugia, but he ceased shouting. "You both think you're so perfect, you and those humans, that this world doesn't need change… well you're wrong. This entire planet will require a revolution if I see things continue down this path."

There was a small, pregnant pause, not only between the legends but also among the many on the island that stayed to see the rest of the fight unfold and hopefully be resolved.

"And don't even get me started on Arceus, that lazy… what does he even do up there? He created us, but after that it's like he doesn't even exist outside of the occasional check-up! We are down here guarding his '_precious creations_' but I don't see him lifting his pointy gold hooves to offer us any help!"

Lugia sighed and then began his reasoning, "I am no more in favor of humanity than I am of Pikachu, Ditto, or any other species of Pokémon. I believe that everyone, Pokémon or human, deserves an equal chance at everything, especially life. No species, settlement, neighborhood, or family deserves to be eradicated because of the actions of a few." Lugia flew in a circle around Ho-oh before remaining at a hover in front of the legendary bird *cough* fruitcake *cough*.

"You say this planet needs a revolution? Just how would that happen? Over 99% of the population is perfectly fine with the way things are, people enjoy life as it is and you think Earth needs to be plunged into war? The question isn't why I feel that humans deserve life, it's why you think they don't."

Lugia once again flew in a circle around Ho-oh before continuing, "Oh, and here's some friendly advice: don't ever let any of the others hear you say that about Arceus. Especially the ones from Sinnoh, they're tattletales the whole lot of 'em." he paused while thinking over Ho-oh's last statement, "And Arceus doesn't interfere with his creations because we all deserve the chance to make our own decisions, good… or bad." the last part of the sentence resonated with a tone of warning.

Ho-oh repositioned his flared feathers and lost his multicolored glow. His breathing slowed and a few heavy exhales were released.

"I think I have already explained myself enough to the likes of you… to be honest I thought you would see it my way, it's the only reason I came here in the first place." Ho-oh admitted, "Maybe I am the only sane creature in this insane world, but know this, everything I say is the truth… and one day you'll regret turning your back on me." With that Ho-oh proceeded to turn around and flap grudgingly away.

The audience let out a collective sigh of relief and scampered in random directions toward their respective homes. Lugia stayed stationary, happy that he managed to avert the crisis of what would have been a devastating fight.

"His words contradict his meaning..." Lugia muttered to himself, "If you see yourself as the only sane creature in an insane world, it isn't the world that's insane, it's you." He watched as Ho-oh disappeared from view, a rainbow trail behind him. "Don't do anything stupid, you fruitcake."

* * *

**A/N from Rio: Ho-oh in this story acts like Ho-oh from Cornova's Poke Wars series, if you haven't read it you should try it, it's a great series. If you've read The Incipience then give a round of reviews to Ho-oh the Legendary Fruitcake!**


	3. Commercial Break: Regi Security

**A/N TBC: just a little idea for a break in between all the drama**

* * *

(Warning: Not a traditional story format, sorry for bad grammar in advance.)

The screen starts out black and white, everything blurry. Then, it fades to clarity and color, revealing a pair of radiant, baby blue eyes. The camera zooms out, showing the small, pink, cat-like Pokémon floating in the air. Clouds congregate at eye level in the background, suggesting high altitude. The camera zooms out a little more and the Pokémon is now revealed to be floating above a landscape decorated in faintly glowing, green-blue crystals.

The Pokémon smiles and says, "Hello, I'm Mew and _this_…" She gestures backwards and moves to the side, ceasing to obstruct the view of a distant structure that looks like a segmented tree. "Is the Tree of Beginning!"

Camera zooms in on the midsection of the tree on high speed, blurring the colors as it travels. It glides over the surface, passing several tunnel entrances on the right as it circles. It slows down and draws attention to the gleaming crystals and complex rock formations as it nears a large tunnel entrance.

The camera takes a sharp turn and enters a cave. Moving quickly through the somewhat dark tunnel only illuminated by the light of the crystals, brilliant, white light is seen coming from the end of the tunnel. The camera slows it's movement as it nears the entrance, seemingly passing through a barrier of light in slow motion. It comes out in an enormous, lush, vibrant, life-filled cavern.

It glances up at a flock of Altaria and Swablu gliding on gentle air currents. Air currents! The cavern was _that_ huge. The camera slowly continues to move forward while quickly spinning to the left. A group of Furret is seen building a nest under a large bush growing near a cliff ledge. The camera pans upwards a bit to reveal a group of Pidgey swooping and diving in the air. The camera turns to the right and pans down, showing Lilleep and Cradily slowly bobbing their heads, sitting on a hill.

Camera looks down a little farther and to the left, a lake filled with Lapras, Goldeen, Wartortle, and almost every other water Pokémon you could name gleaming and shining in the sunlight. It zooms in on the lake, passing underwater, a Lumineon swimming past the lens. The camera pans upwards and comes up out of the water, flying straight up through the flock of Altaria and Swablu. It looks out at the amazing sight of the massive cavern, an ecosystem as close to perfect as it gets.

A shimmering noise is heard from behind, like twinkling wind chimes. The camera whips around to face Mew and both casually float sideways as Mew cheerily speaks. "As you can see, many Pokémon live happily throughout this entire complex environment. In order to keep things around here safe and peaceful, we employ Regi Security!"

Regi logo appears small in the middle, slowly growing in size until it takes up the whole screen. It's a hollow triangle with three circles at the points, one cracked red-orange circle, one light blue with a white outline, and one half silver and half black. Logo shrinks down to the lower left corner of the screen, spinning.

Scene change: Regirock bursting out of the ground spinning and lands like an Olympic star in a dramatic pose, a cluster of crystals in the background. "I will analyze any threat that dares to approach the proximity to which I am assigned, stealthily and from underground."

Scene change: Regice sending a jagged Light blue beam from its hands to completely freeze a log leaning on a boulder by the lake, causing it to fall over. "I will incapacitate the trespasser if they make any sudden movements."

Scene change: Registeel standing still in front of a tunnel entrance while a few brave wild Pokémon try to push past the Golem or knock him over. "Nothing will pass me."

Cut to all three standing together, Regice on the left, Regirock in the middle, and Registeel to the right. Regirock steps forward. "We have worked here at the Tree of Beginning for centuries, and even though we won't be leaving, we have relatives all over the world who are available for hire. Remember, Regi Security is the best security."

Mew teleports in front of the camera taking up most of the view, she waves a paw and says with a wink, "I can vouch for that!"

* * *

**As a prank from Mew the best bloopers were left in for the rest of us to enjoy, so here they are.**

(Blooper 1: Mew trying to get the camera to work.)

Mew: "Hey guys, I figured out how to turn it on and off!"

Regirock: "How does it work?"

Mew: "You just press thi-"

*static*

* * *

(Blooper 2: Filming Regirock's over-dramatic entrance.)

Mew: "Ok... GO!"

Regirock flies out of the ground spinning, hovers for a moment and lands awkwardly and off-balance.

Mew: "try it again"

Regirock lets out a sigh and with slumped 'shoulders' walks back to the hole that he made and covers the top with rocks and dirt.

Regice (from behind the camera): "You suck!"

Regirock turns and points an accusatory arm at an area off-screen "Shut Up '_Icy' _I bet you couldn't do this if you tried!"

Regice floats on screen and points an accusatory arm back at Regirock. "Don't you _dare_ call me that again! Just go back to doing your stupid flashy entrance that you insisted on!"

Registeel walks slowly in between the two and looks at Regice. "Stop." He turns and faces Regirock. "Continue." then proceeded to walk out of the view of the camera.

Mew giggles.

*static*

* * *

(Blooper 3: Filming Regice's equally over-dramatic debut.)

Mew: "I found a log! Now let's start the next scene."

Regice: "What do I do again?"

Mew: "Just hit it with Ice Beam, but let me set it up first."

Mew places the camera on the ground and floats over, standing up the log against the boulder. As soon as Mew moves to return to the camera a hasty Ice Beam flies past the screen and explodes with Mew still in the shot.

Mew: "Aww... Now I have to go and find another log!"

*static*

* * *

(Blooper 4: Filming Registeel's debut.)

Mew: "Just say, 'I will not let any intruder get past me.' Ok?"

Registeel: "No."

Mew: "Come on, you have to say something!"

Regice: *sigh* "Just do it already!"

Registeel: "No."

Mew: "Why not?"

Registeel: "…"

Mew: "Okay, fine. You hold the camera then."

Mew thrusts the camera into Registeel's hands and waits for him to get a hold of the tiny object. The small, pink Pokémon starts glowing white and rapidly increasing in size. The light suddenly stops and disperses, revealing an identical copy of Registeel

Mew (Registeel): "Ha! Now whether you want to or not you'll be in the commercial!"

Registeel: "No."

Registeel places the camera on ground backwards and starts walking away.

Regice: "Don't worry, I got it!"

Regirock: "No! don't touch the-"

*static*

* * *

(Blooper 5: Getting a new camera.)

The screen blinks back to life as Mew takes it out of the easy bake oven she 'found' a while back.

Mew: "New rule, don't let Regice hold the camera."

*static*

* * *

The Regi trio are standing in formation and Regirock is talking "Remember, Regi Security is the best security."

There was a very long silence, and Registeel was the first to look around.

Regirock: "MEW!"

Mew teleports in. "I can vouch for that!"

Regirock: "Ugh, now I have to say the whole thing again!"

Mew: "Oops… sorry guys, I wasn't paying attention."

Mew: "From the top!"

A collective groan escapes the Regis as they get back into position.

*static*

* * *

**AN:** Hello to the readers of Clash, Rio here. Sorry about bad grammar, but this is more of a relaxed, commercial presentation-type format. But this is a nice little break though, isn't it? All the arguing and drama takes a backseat for a moment of humor. Hope you enjoyed it, please review! (If you don't, I'm calling the Regis on you.)


	4. Illusive Melodies

**A/N TBC: What? Zorua isn't a legendary? Well neither are you!**

**Twobagelscollide: Zorua**

**Rio: Meloetta**

* * *

Zorua was trotting along through a lush green portion of a forest with no particular goal in mind. A soft musical note seemed to drift by her ears and she became very interested in the source. She wove her way through the thinning underbrush and emerged at a small basin of water. It was fed by a leisurely cascade of fresh water down several flights of smooth rock steps. However, what was more interesting was the one, graceful Pokémon occupying the area. It was humming elegantly, with the ends of its feet dipped into the circular edge of the shimmering water.

Its back was turned and Zorua decided to play a prank on its unsuspecting victim. She playfully bounded over and leaped into the water near the mysterious Pokémon, drenching it and cutting off the melody. After resurfacing Zorua caught the angry glare of its target and couldn't help but let out a delighted giggle.

"Ack! Hey! You got me wet! And my hair!" Meloetta shrieked, "Eeeeeeeek!" She glanced down at Zorua and glared. "You! Why you're a Zorua!"

"Why yes I am!" Zorua paddled to the coarse edge of the pool and sprung out haphazardly, which further splashed water in the annoyed Meloetta's face "I'm a pretty rare Pokémon, so it's impressive that you've heard of me. I really got you good! I bet you didn't even see me coming! That means I'm the best!" Zorua announced proudly.

"Oh," a completely soaked Meloetta turned her nose up at the dark-type. "So you think you're better, huh? Well, I'll have you know that I am a Meloetta. I'm a rare Pokémon too, and I can sing."

"Alright Meloetta, let's see your singing do this!" The air around Zorua shimmered and right where she was standing a perfect copy the aforementioned Pokémon suddenly appeared. Zorua reenacted the dramatic gesticulations from when Meloetta got wet a few moments ago "Oh, my poor hair." The Illusion Pokémon erupted in laughter, which caused it to revert back to its furry black and red form.

Meloetta floated closer to where Zorua was standing in the pool. She shouted, "I do _not_ act like that, you furry little demon!" She turned her head away from Zorua and said, "And even if my singing can't do that, I'm still a better Pokémon than you are."

"Do too! I saw you!" Zorua padded back and forth triumphantly. When she failed to flick her tail she realized there was still some water seeped into its material, so the little black fox shook heartily spraying droplets across the area. "Besides, you can't be the best if I'm better than you." Zorua taunted rolling her eyes toward the sky "Is your 'special power' complaining all time?" A smile widened across her face as she giggled at her own joke.

Meloetta pompously kicked Zorua back into the water. With a superior expression on her face, she said, "I am _so_ better than you. You might be considered rare, but _I 'm_ a mythical Pokémon." She flicked her hair over her shoulder and began floating away.

Zorua was now agitated by the lack of appreciation for her prank and being ignored. _'Now it's time to instigate.' _The mischievous fox thought

"You keep saying that but I have still yet to see you prove it!" the illusion Pokémon yelled and did the best to wave her soggy tail through the air above the water "Gimme your best shot!"

"Sure," Meloetta turned around and glared at Zorua, "I'm going to pound you, you little monster!" She leapt towards Zorua and tackled the fox-like Pokémon, the two of them rolling around and wrestling along the edge of the basin of water.

Puffs of dust took flight every time one flung the other to the ground; each was just as desperate to try to gain the upper hand in the situation. Zorua bit down desperately on Meloetta's upper arm to free herself from the excruciating grip on her tail. Meloetta shrieked in pain laced with loathing, and kicked hard into the fox's stomach sending the smaller creature rolling across the ground. Zorua caught herself on all four red-tipped paws and took the small distance between them as an opportunity to think… _'Her hair!'_ Zorua grinned.

A grimace crossed the Melody Pokémon's face when the tiny black and red fox disappeared. An uncomfortable silence ensued only to be broken by a painful tugging backwards. Meloetta whipped around to face the assailant, while simultaneously freeing herself form the tug. The stunned Pokémon gasped in horror at the sight between the proud teeth of her opponent…a large clump of grassy green hair fell to the ground.

"You were _sooo_ worried about your hair earlier, I thought I would give you a little less to worry about." Zorua giggled uncontrollably, but cut herself off and put on a far more serious tone. "Now that you can see you are clearly outmatched just admit that I'm better than you!" her face was smug and determined.

Meloetta gasped, a horrified expression on her face as she glanced between her hair and Zorua. "How..." She quickly rounded from horror and disbelief to anger. "Why, you little monster!"

She leaned forward, slapped Zorua and lifted the Pokémon by her tail making sure to keep her sharp teeth at arm's length. "You, you might have sharp little teeth, but you're still just a little dark-type demon! I bet I could beat you in a fight!"

"Ow! Let me go, let me go!" Zorua wriggled vigorously but was surprised when the grip didn't loosen or falter "How are you… holding me… this doesn't mean you can beat me in a fight!" Zorua paused for a second then smirked as the air around her distorted and suddenly reassembled. What remained was a heap of bubbling lava that caused the unsuspecting Pokémon to flinch and let go. The Slugma that plopped to the ground revealed itself as a giggle consumed Zorua that pointed one red-tipped paw at the further enraged Meloetta as she rolled on the ground laughing.

"Oh yeah?" Meloetta countered, "You're just a little, dark-type Pokémon, while I'm a dual-type! I could beat you easy!"

She focused her energy on one fist which began to glow a vibrant emerald green and soon mutated into a sphere. The punch connected harshly with the face of the hysterical dark-type and a small yelp escaped her maw.

"Take that!" Meloetta smirked as she felt some of her previous afflictions begin to alleviate themselves.

Zorua grunted and slowly got back to her feet, now clearly annoyed. "What kind of dual-type are you anyways? Shallow and Petty?" a grin spread across the sly face of the fox Pokémon "Plus, dark-types are awesome! How do you think I got behind you earlier? I used faint attack."

With those words the image of the small black fox faded slowly away. Meloetta was on the defensive trying to psychically float higher to make sure that she wasn't hit or lost any more hair. However, right before she could gain a safe distance off of the ground, a familiar set of razor sharp teeth dug into her ankle. They hung suspended in midair, Meloetta frantically trying to kick Zorua off with her free foot.

The dark type clenched harder with each kick causing the pain to intensify and the psychic lift soon evaporated. Having the greater leverage Zorua swung her head and released the Melody Pokémon downward into the earth. After momentarily obtaining victory the ignorant fox forgot about gravity and landed face first a few meters away.

Meloetta stood up and brushed herself off indignantly. She glared, "If you have to know, I'm a normal and psychic-type. You're just a little dark-type monster, and you're small too."

Somewhere inside Zorua, something finally snapped and took the words that Meloetta was saying to heart. "It doesn't matter that I'm small now! One day when I grow up, I'm gonna be a big strong Zoroark!" a distraught look crossed the tiny fox's face "I'm not a… monster…am I?" she muttered, lifting each paw steadily to a standing position.

The pensive fox stood silently in reminiscence, gazing into the displaced dirt beneath her. All the trouble that she caused, all of the 'pranks' that she pulled… did those make her a monster? Was it all wrong? '_Am I the bad guy?'_ Zorua thought solemnly. She held back tears that were caressing the edge of her eyes, trying to blink them away.

The insults were not forgotten and the pain of her powerful attacks made itself present with every movement, still there was no way that that petty psychic was the better Pokémon. "You know what Meloetta; you think you're sitting pretty on that high horse of yours? Well it looks like I'm the one who's going to knock you down!"

"Oh, so you can evolve, can you?" Meloetta taunted, "I figured you'd just stay a little monster forever, you crybaby. It's not nice to bite off a person's hair. A prank is harmless enough, but that's just mean! You act like a child, so I'm going to teach you a lesson!" the Psychic type's words cut at Zorua's ego and self-esteem.

Meloetta's eyes began radiating out in a blue hue, and bits of rock and dirt were lifted from the ground by a psychic force, Meloetta swung her arms towards Zorua and the dark-type was pelted by dirt and pebbles.

"And just so you know, I'm still clearly the better Pokémon." She pompously made a dismissive gesture with her hands. "You're just a little dark-type, while I'm a normal and psychic-type. Normally, a psychic-type would be hurt by ghost-type moves, but my normal-typing makes it so that they don't affect me at all. I have a lot more advantages than you."

"Psychic type huh? Well that's good for me at least, you should stop bragging about things that could give your opponent the advantage!" Zorua growled and proceeded to mull over the comments while she shook and patted the dirt off of her fur. "Who do you think you are, my mom? It's not your job to teach me any lessons! I can take care of myself! I am NOT a child!" Zorua roared, however she only managed to sound whiney due to her high pitched voice.

"Sure, you're not a child." Meloetta's voice was dripping with sarcasm. "But I'm still a dual-type, normal and psychic most of the time. I could beat you in a battle easily. I'm better than you are and you just don't want to admit it." The Melody Pokémon maintained her confident posture while Zorua was stating to have second thoughts.

She stepped closer and closer to Zorua as she spoke, Looking down at the dark-type with a measure of satisfaction.

A sly grin appeared on the fox's face. "Oh look your ego is showing, let me get that for you" Zorua reared back and sprung upward slamming her head into Meloetta's delicate face. The Melody Pokémon held her jaw with both hands as Zorua celebrated the victory, not really understanding the concept of battling.

"Ow!" Meloetta shrieked although it was slightly muffled, "That hurt! And do you even understand what a battle is?!" She continued to rub her recently head-butted chin until the pain went away.

"Of course I do! A battle is when you… fight… and… stuff" Zorua struggled with the fact that she could not come up with a viable excuse for not knowing how to battle. "That doesn't matter anyway because I know how to battle just as much as you think you know how to sing!" Zorua declared, but her voice was not as confident as she intended.

"Yeah. Right." Meloetta scoffed, her hands on her hips. "A battle is a fight between two Pokémon, we face each other off and try to knock the other Pokémon out. So, why don't we finally settle this? You and me, a battle, right here, right now!" Meloetta's posture changed from its usual pompous nature to a respectable fighting stance.

Zorua slid into a fighting stance of her own with a new fire in her eyes. Meloetta let a confident light blue emanate from her eyes. The two of them stood silently waiting for the opponent to make the first move.

Zorua got anxious and started sprinting forward, while tiny glowing white claws extended from the red fur in her paws. An uncharacteristic feral growl escaped the fox's throat as she slashed wildly at her target. Meloetta grinned smugly and gracefully dodged the flurry of attacks with ease, stepping backward each time.

Meloetta floated quickly to a very high altitude, far out of the reach of Zorua's sharp claws. She exclaimed, "Psychic might not work on you directly, but that doesn't mean you don't have to worry about it!"

The Melody Pokémon's eyes glowed blue once again, and the clump of earth Zorua was standing on rose into the air until it was level with Meloetta's face.

"Buh-bye!" She cheerfully waved.

The clod of dirt disintegrated into loose soil, leaving Zorua panicking in the air for a moment before falling back down to the ground. "Hah!" Meloetta gloated, yelling at the dark-type in a heap on the ground. "I think I'm the better one here!"

"Whaaaaa!" Zorua shrieked as the ground rushed to meet her. She twisted in midair and landed at a devastating angle on her front left paw. The soil rained around and on top of the Illusion Pokémon, covering her fur with wads of mud. The battered looking pup whimpered in pain while glaring with vengeance at the cocky form of Meloetta through teary eyes. She tried to get up and yelped repeatedly as weight could no longer be applied to her damaged appendage. Zorua determinedly worked against the agony in order to stand on her three good legs, and proceeded to limp toward her descending opponent with no actual plan in mind.

"What attack are you going to use on me?" Meloetta tauntingly asked, drifting closer to the ground as she spoke. "Some sort of super effective dark-type attack? Fake Tears? Oh, wait. Those are real ones! Ahahaha!" She pompously laughed.

"You're such a stuck-up bratty jerk! There is no way that that you're better than me!" Zorua yelled at her floating chuckling opponent. Fatigue had finally caught up with the small Pokémon and other legs just seemed to give up.

Zorua crumpled but refused to look defeated, continuing to fail at lifting herself up. Fear slowly settled into the naïve mind of the fox pup_ 'This girl is a psycho! I can't move… can't get away…'_ she shuttered from the possibilities at hand. "What are you going to do now?" Zorua asked, sounding beaten.

Meloetta floated directly in front of the crushed fox-like Pokémon. She sat down, crossed her legs, and said, "I'm going to sit here and wait for you to apologize."

The dark type was extremely confused at what was happening "Apologize? To you? How about you try apologizing! You're the one who took a prank too seriously! I think you even broke my leg! All I did was splash a little water on your stupid hair then you went and started this great big fight!" the black fox wailed through clenched teeth.

"It wasn't just the water!" Meloetta yelled back equally as loud even though the two had mere inches away between them, "You chewed off a decent-sized chunk of my hair too! I'm going to wait here until you apologize!" She turned her head and crossed her arms.

The bushes a little ways away from the two Pokémon began rustling. It was obviously unnatural and seemed that there was something or someone trying to get through.

Meloetta noticed, "Uh, Zorua... What's that?" She pointed at the bushes, which were shaking furiously.

"I don't-" the creature burst through the bushes and Zorua's face cringed in recognition.

"YOU!" the individual accused pointing a flat leafy appendage directly at Zorua. The small defeated fox now had two ticked off Pokémon ready to hurt her and decided that gaining an ally was in her best interest.

Zorua looked pleadingly at Meloetta "Sorry, I messed up your hair. Could you help me with this… please?"

The Pokémon who had burst from the bushes was a Lilligant, but it looked disheveled and dirty and was panting heavily. Meloetta looked at the furious Lilligant and then at the helpless Zorua. "I guess I forgive you." She rolled her eyes "But I don't think that Lilligant wants to."

"You." Lilligant stepped closer, fury evident on her face. "I said I'd get you for what you did, and now I will!" The large plant took heavy rage-filled steps toward the pair, getting steadily closer.

Zorua was lying down on the ground and started to quake with fear, but after a few steps, Meloetta called out, "Stop!" Lilligant stopped in her tracks. "Don't you think it's a little unfair for you to attack Zorua while she's hurt?"

Lilligant angrily replied, "Yeah, so what? I don't care. I just want to pound that obnoxious little brat six feet under!"

_'Yeesh.'_ Meloetta thought,_ 'What did Zorua do to her?'_ She began speaking again, "I agree that Zorua's annoying, but don't you have _any_ sense of mercy? It's not fair to attack her while she's down!"

"You attacked her for something, didn't you? And now you're telling me not to?! Talk about being a hypocrite." Lilligant countered.

Meloetta sighed and thought,_ 'I can't believe I'm defending this annoying little demon, but this girl's crazy.'_ She replied, "I fought her in a fair battle, you can't just go after her while she can't defend herself! Can't you try talking it out?" Meloetta pleaded, but there was a strong and commanding tone to her voice

Lilligant grunted and ground her teeth together audibly. "Fine. You and that little brat have five minutes to talk me out of beating her to a pulp."

Meloetta whispered, "Zorua, what did you do to her?!"

"I may have…kinda, sorta… embarrassed her on national television." Zorua gave a quick cautious glance at the fuming Lilligant "I might have went… just a little overboard." the tiny fox flashed a nervous smile.

Zorua flashed back to a few hours earlier

Back in Nimbasa city a few hours ago Zorua was in an illusionary disguise as a human. Out of luck she found a fashion studio with an unlocked back door and made her way inside. Meandering around the hallways she saw a Lilligant and got an idea for one the best pranks that she'd ever pulled.

Zorua hung around and eavesdropped on some information from humans that said Lilligant was a Pokémon of some famous human about to go on live TV. Zorua then dropped its disguise and slammed the doors of the room, locking Lilligant in her dressing room and allowing Zorua to take her form.

Adorning herself in embarrassing clothes from the dressing room next door she joined Lilligant's trainer who was already on set. On top of looking ridiculous, Zorua embarrassed herself by making stupid faces and weird noises until the real Lilligant violently broke down the dressing room door and forced the show to go on commercial break. The tiny fox bewildered the studio by dropping her disguise and letting the outfit flutter to the floor.

As she was hightailing it out of there she noticed someone was following her, it was the Lilligant. Hastily, the nervous prankster dodged through multiple alleyways until she finally broke into the woods still closely followed by Lilligant. She was easy to lose in the trees, but the grass-type was persistent in following.

"You did what?" Meloetta looked back at the furious grass-type waiting for her chance to attack Zorua. "Well, that explains why she's so mad. Just talk to her, apologize, maybe it'll work, you little monster." Although the last part of Meloetta's sentence was an insult, it didn't seem to be directed at Zorua with anger anymore.

Zorua hopped up onto her paws while carefully avoiding the sensitive one. Lilligant saw that letting the fox come to her was going to take forever and she wasn't waiting any longer. Lilligant strode forward towering tall and vengeful over the intimidated Zorua.

Zorua's nervous smile returned "Hi… uh… sorry?" she squeaked out. A pitiless, cruel slap connected with the force of a punch, sending the defenseless creature rolling across the dirt. A faint groan was heard but there was no sign of Zorua moving, her body collapsed in a heap a sizable distance away from the other two.

"That was for RUINING MY LIFE!" Lilligant screamed.

Meloetta looked at the scene before her, shocked. That shock quickly turned into anger. "How could you?!" She shouted at Lilligant, "Zorua might be a little monster, but she was helpless and apologizing!"

Lilligant turned to look at Meloetta. "Are you her friend now? Well in that case, you're just as responsible and I hate you too!"

Zorua could hear the incoming fight and although desperately wanting to move out of the way, decided it was best if she played dead for the moment… maybe even sleep a little.

White light enshrouded the leaf-like arms of Lilligant and she pointed them upward. White beams shot into the open blue sky and the effect was immediate. The heat increased, clouds dispersed, and sunlight became more intense. Lilligant began to smile confidently.

Meloetta's eyes glowed blue, and Lilligant was held in midair, outlined by a blue psionic light.

"Can't you just talk it out?!" Meloetta asked, frustrated at the depth of insanity that Zorua has pushed Lilligant to.

"No!" Lilligant struggled against the psychic hold. "I'm going to kill that little bratty demon if it's the_ last thing I do!_"

"Talk about overdramatic..." Meloetta mumbled. She then intensified her mental grip on the struggling grass-type.

Majestic petals swarmed around the spinning plant's body and forcibly broke the psychic hold. Lilligant landed gracefully and continued spinning sending the petals to bombard Meloetta. This time the Melody Pokémon's glowing blue eyes sent out a jagged multicolored beam on a collision course with the petals. A dull smoky explosion sent wind whipping in all directions and scattered the petals sporadically across the distance in between them.

"Was that Petal Dance?" Meloetta wondered, while at the same time contemplating her own next move.

Then, with a burst of unexpected speed, Lilligant slammed into her, knocking the melody Pokémon down to the ground with a tackle attack.

"Oomph!" Meloetta struggled and tried to maneuver out of Lilligant's hold on her. She called out, "Zorua! Help me, you little monster!"

Zorua heard the plea of her protector and opened her eyes to find the Lilligant pinning Meloetta to the ground. Searching her mental arsenal of moves, she didn't think of any that could span the distance. Moving was out of the question as each deep breath warranted a measure of pain. There was only one other thing that Zorua could think of.

"Hey!" the fox called attention to herself and instantly regretted it as the enraged eyes of the Lilligant snapped onto her location.

"I didn't ruin your life, it was only a prank, the camera wasn't even rolling… heh heh, got you!" Zorua forced a smile, which only made Lilligant angrier.

"You mean I chased you through the woods for HOURS and it was only a PRANK?!" The Flowering Pokémon shook with violent intent and threw Meloetta to the ground, Zorua's 'friend' was now irrelevant to her.

"Ow!" Meloetta shrieked as her shoulder hit the ground again. '_Well, Drain Punch is out of the question now.' _Meloetta thought to herself.

"You...You..." Lilligant's eyes had a psychotic edge to them, a gleam of madness that hadn't been noticed before. "You're a regular little demon, you know that? I'm going to make you regret what you did to me. I thought you RUINED my life, and now it all turns out to be a PRANK?!"

The newly deranged grass type rolled her eyes back into her head and recklessly heaved a full powered Solarbeam in Zorua's general direction. It missed by a long shot but devastated a nearby tree causing the large upper half to fall towards Zorua.

It suddenly became outlined in blue and diverted to falling safely behind the broken fox. Lilligant once again redirected her uncontrolled rage towards the focused face of Meloetta, who let out a heavy exhale.

Meloetta looked from the crazed Lilligant to the injured Zorua. _'I have to end this now.'_ Meloetta began singing, "La la la laaa. La la la laaa." Lilligant began feeling drowsy wobbling back and forth on her four feet.

"No." yawned Lilligant, "Can't... fall...sleep...Stupid...Sing..."She wobbled her way towards Zorua, drowsily saying, "I'm...gonna...kill...you..." Lilligant collapsed in a snoring heap on the ground, less than a yard away from Zorua.

Meloetta faced Zorua and smirked, "Told you I could sing." She celebrated her victory in her own way.

"Yeah yeah, that's great but we need to get out of here while we can." Zorua looked anxiously at Meloetta and then over to the sleeping form of Lilligant "That prank may have been too much, but now I don't feel bad about it."

There was a small silence while Meloetta waited for Zorua to get up, which caused the exhausted fox to grin. "You know... I can't move, and it _is_ your fault, sooo… carry me?"

Meloetta groaned, "Ugh, fine. But I think it's more like _you_ owe _me._" Her eyes glowed blue again, and the clod of earth Zorua was collapsed on lifted into the air. "You pranked me, I made you apologize for it, and then I helped you with Lilligant. Now, I'm taking you to the nearest one of those Pokémon Centers." The Melody Pokémon recapped out loud in disbelief of her own actions.

It was an odd sight in Nimbasa city when a Meloetta appeared out of nowhere with a beat up Zorua on a clump of dirt. The crowd soon grew in number housing all of the interested and curious trainers and onlookers. One greedy idiot decided it was a good time challenge the Meloetta to a battle. Without hesitation Meloetta's already glowing blue eyes flared brighter for a second, and ripped the pokeball from the man's hand tossing it in a nearby dumpster. Others that were thinking the same thing quickly realized now was not the time and the crowd thinned; all that was left were the few that were concerned for the broken Zorua.

When approaching the Pokémon center the entourage made room for the duo to pass safely up to the red-roofed building. The dirt clod that Zorua was resting on sporadically dribbled dirt on the smooth peach colored floor as it was carried toward the counter. Nurse joy took immediate notice of the scene and after a small spell of disbelief an Audino rushed forward with a metallic silver cart. Meloetta gladly dropped her psychic hold and let Zorua plunk heavily to the surface of the cart while soil was scattered around the immediate area.

Meloetta scanned the unfamiliar space around her and realized that she had all of these humans' undivided attention. After letting out a big sigh she found the most out of the way bench and relaxed into it trying to ignore all of the suspicion and curiosity. She tried her best to ignore the continuous questions of, "Who's that Pokemon?" and the beeps of answering pokedexes.

After waiting for what seemed like forever Zorua was released from the area behind the counter and ran half limping towards the Melody Pokémon. The little dark type had an awkward looking splint on her injured leg, but nonetheless nuzzled up against Meloetta who was clearly confused.

"Thank you so much sis!" Zorua squealed in delight "I feel one hundred times better now! This thing on my leg sucks, but it's not as bad as you might think." The ecstatic dark-type wiggled her paw uncomfortably tying to demonstrate.

Nurse joy walked over and patted Meloetta on the head, which annoyed the psychic-type immensely. "Zorua should be better soon; it must be nice having a friend who would help like you did."

Meloetta just tried to ignore Nurse Joy and practically dragged Zorua out of the Pokémon Center.

"You're not even going to say thank you?" Zorua asked incredulously while trying desperately to keep up with the hurried steps of Meloetta

"Thank you?" Meloetta turned to look at Zorua, and expression of disbelief on her face. "Thank you?! I helped you out with Lilligant, and I brought you to the Pokémon Center. I think it's YOU who should be saying thank you."

"Wow sis, I was talking about Nurse Joy, and wait a second, you wouldn't have needed to come here if you didn't injure me in the first place! So don't complain about it to me!" Zorua stopped trying to follow Meloetta creating a gap between them when she turned around. They were still in the city but just barely which allowed the edge of the forest to be clearly visible from where they were standing. "Also if you didn't hurt me then I wouldn't have needed help with Lilligant!"

If I hadn't taught you a lesson," Meloetta interrupted, "Then you'd be off pranking someone else and getting into even more trouble!" she rolled her eyes at the thought of it.

"I wouldn't have gotten into any trouble, in fact I usually get away with my pranks." A reminiscent smile crossed Zorua's lips. "You just so happen to be the first one to break my leg for it!"

"Bah, it'll heal." Meloetta replied with a dismissive wave, "Besides, you should still be thanking me."

"Fine, thank you, for overreacting, and almost getting me killed." Zorua's voice was heavy with sarcasm.

"Maybe I should've helped Lilligant then!" Meloetta fired back playfully.

"I think you helped her plenty." Zorua changed the subject as they reentered the forest. "And speaking of Lilligant, what exactly happened to her?"

Meloetta flashed back to the end of the fight...

As Meloetta psychically lifted Zorua and the clod of earth she lay on, the melody Pokémon also lifted a Lilligant-sized hole in the ground behind them. Dumping the dirt in a circle around the hole, Lilligant's sleeping body was lifted and then planted in the hole, her head just sticking out of the ground. The dirt caved into the hole and began packing around the sleeping psychopath, creating the appearance of a bulbous plant with a face. Meloetta and Zorua disappeared down a path heading towards a town.

Wandering through the trees and bushes nearby, two trainers were looking for their video camera, which had mysteriously flown out of the girl's hands and somewhere in the direction of a pool of water they knew to be nearby. The boy, who was searching through the bushes, spotted their camera and a conveniently placed sleeping Lilligant buried next to it.

"Rio!" he called out, "You've got to see this!"

The girl, apparently named Rio, looked around a tree and saw the camera and the buried Lilligant. "Hah! This is comedy gold! Let's wake up the Lilligant and film it before we dig it back up! What do you say, Ollie?" The girl looked at Ollie expectantly.

"Sure!" Ollie replied, the swiftly returned his focus to the video camera scanning it for any damage. "This'll get a ton of hits on PokeTube!"

Meloetta heard the two of them, although Zorua didn't seem to notice. She smiled.

Meloetta smiled at the memory and said to Zorua, "Let's just say that she'll get the attention she deserves."

* * *

**A/N TBC:** I bet you didn't expect a cat fight right? Well neither did I, but it just happened.

**AN Rio:** Please review! (Seriously who's better? Zorua or Meloetta?)


	5. DraconiYin-Yang

**A/N TBC: wow a lot happened while I was trying to write this one (like getting a dog), so there was a slight delay.**

* * *

It was dawn in Nimbasa city; the pulsating neon lights ceased their bright glow on the buildings surrounding the amusement park. Instead, they were gradually replaced by the tender white light of the foggy, overcast morning. These clouds were of course caused by the Legendary Pokémon Zekrom, who was loitering around the outskirts of this city, eager to engage in his obsession.

For the longest time this dragon as wholeheartedly entertained himself with the seemingly nonsensical actions of humanity. Pokémon trainers were by far the most interesting in the species and Zekrom (creepily) awaited the departure of two trainers that had entered the city a few days ago.

There was a still silence that unnaturally blanketed the forest until leaves rustled in the distance. His head turned and Zekrom squinted, trying to identify the source of the sound, after all, it could be a human. A scan of the luscious greenery revealed that several bushes rustled in a linear path. Silence immediately followed and lasted about four seconds before an enraged scream ripped through the silent tension "I _will_ kill you! Get back here!" following this, the same bushes that rustled before started to rumble. This time the trees crashed with sounds of breaking and snapping until they finally unleashed a Lilligant blindly tearing through the forest after an invisible target.

_'I wonder what's going on over there'_ the black dragon thought curiously.

* * *

Reshiram was roaming the peculiarly dim skies, blending into the cast whiteness at just below cloud level, but something familiar caught the corner of her eye. A pair of moving figures and high pitched voices caught her attention, imploring her to investigate.

The white dragon inconspicuously descended to a position sufficiently above where the two beings revealed to be Pokémon were fighting. There was a tiny body of water right next to them and the area had been scuffed up a bit, clearly, the fight had been going on for a while.

Even though their voices and actions were what caught Reshiram's attention in the first place, now they seemed to be talking at a normal volume, one that the white dragon could not eavesdrop on. The now curious bystander that was Reshiram lowered herself down farther than she should have and saw now that they were both female Pokémon. One was a Zorua and one was a Meloetta.

The Zorua had a wounded leg and all around looked far more beat up than the basically spotless Meloetta making the fight look one-sided. Reshiram told herself, _'Never get involved in other people's business unless lives are on the line… and this is just a catfight.'_

* * *

Meanwhile Zekrom was impatiently standing around near the entrance to the city, idly using his claws to carve shapes in the soft bark of the trees. After carving out about a dozen basic geometric shapes and an arrow, the dragon was caught off guard by a set of male and female voices. Instinctively he hid himself behind some bushes and a large tree trunk, cautiously peeking around the corner.

Sure enough it was two humans, a young boy and girl. The male was hold a black recording device Zekrom had seen a few times before, whatever this thing was pointed at it captured forever in tiny moving clips. _'Human technology is amazing…'_ Zekrom gawked in his own mind. His admiration was cut short by his new motivation to observe them without being seen.

* * *

Over the past few days Ollie and Rio had partaken in activities within Nimbasa city. They had challenged the gym leader Elesa back to back and come out victorious; Rio even participated in a special contest unique to Nimbasa city. Interestingly enough, Ollie had found a special souvenir that he was eager to try out. It was little expensive, but he had bought the video camera so he could record their journey as they went along.

They strayed from the path almost instantly when leaving the city, heading directly into the woods on a whim in order to test out the new piece of technology. Ollie knelt down and lifted the device from his backpack momentarily handing it to his friend.

"What exactly do you think you'll find?" Rio asked genuinely curious. She turned the camera over itself in her hands a few times then gave it back to Ollie.

Ollie flicked out the digital screen and found the record button "I have no idea, hopefully something cool, if not then… we can… um...record a sparring match. I just want to test drive this thing."

* * *

Reshiram watched as the weighted fight continued in favor of the Meloetta, admittedly entertaining Reshiram. Then with one decisive blow the Zorua was lifted up into the air and slammed to the ground sustaining what looked like an injury. Reshiram contemplated her involvement further and decided nothing was bad enough to make that decision yet.

The white dragon readied her fiery attack just in case this started going too far. The dragon trailed off in her own mind "I have nothing better to do than too sit here and wait for something to go wrong. I need a hobby." Reshiram thought about all the things that could be a suitable pastime for her and then remembered what her counterpart Zekrom had tried to talk her into a few years ago.

He tried to get her to stalk humans for fun. Which was really creepy in Reshiram's opinion. Shaking off her extended self-absorption, Reshiram turned back to the fight scene to find a new adversary had come onto the scene and was now falling asleep at the hands of some pleasant singing.

_'In fact that singing…is…pretty soothing… I think… I'll lie down... for a bit.'_ Reshiram drowsily and carelessly floated down into the forest near the match and fell asleep.

* * *

The two trainers' conversation drifted closer to Zekrom as they cut into the woods and advanced towards his position. Making himself as small as possible, Zekrom successfully hid among the thick surrounding shrubbery as they moved dangerously close to his position. Zekrom had one eye on them through his hiding place and he was growing nervous that they might actually find him.

All of a sudden their camera developed a blue outline, and became airborne in the opposite direction. Zekrom heaved a sigh of relief but didn't move until he was sure he was not going to be seen following them. Getting up and Maneuvering his large body quickly through the thick trees created too much noise and the dragon opted to move slower even though it meant possibly losing his targets.

He followed them at a safe distance as they wandered through the forest, bewildered about the fate of their device. At one point the female human paused and put her hand out signaling the male to stop, then proceeded to look behind her directly at the poorly camouflaged black dragon. However she decided it was nothing and they proceeded to follow the direction that they saw their camera fly off to.

Suddenly the boy burst into a scenic clearing near a basin of water and Zekrom witnessed an interesting scene worthy of the compulsive stalking that he recently indulged in. The boy beckoned the girl over as he had found his camera lying next to an unconscious Lilligant buried up to her neck in the ground. The two trainers had a brief conversation Zekrom couldn't quite hear and then stepped out into the clearing.

After a thorough once over of his technology, the boy knelt down to get closer to the wounded Pokémon. The human flicked out the digital screen, and suddenly, the eyes of the buried Lilligant flared open with fury, and the Pokémon's dirt prison was not even close to enough to restrain its wrath. Lashing out with a leafy appendage it swiped the piece of technology from the boy's hands, pulverized it and stormed off.

* * *

Ollie's mouth was wide with shock "I just bought that yesterday!"

His disbelief slowly turned to anger as Rio tried to calm him down. "It probably didn't want to be filmed."

"Gee, you think?" Ollie retorted, instantly taking out his aggression on his innocent friend. He started to pile up the larger fragments of the brand new camera.

Rio was about to say something back to him but decided that she should try to cheer him up. "I know something that will cheer you up! How about a battle?" Rio suggested cheerfully.

"I'm not in the mood." Ollie grumbled as he was picking up the jagged black pieces of the camera off of the ground.

"How about… an argument? I_ know_ that would cheer you up." Rio persisted, taking out her Pokedex and starting to scroll through its contents.

"Still in the same mood as two seconds ago." Ollie bluntly replied, combing the grass for stray parts.

* * *

Zekrom wanted a clear vantage point from which to observe this unique and interesting scene.

In the middle of repositioning himself, the large dragon noticed a curled-up, sleeping white lump in the forest in a nice covered area. When he walked over to investigate he smiled and leaned down in order to give a few small slaps to Reshiram to wake her up.

The sleeping dragon flung herself from sleep and slammed into the nearest tree, still thinking she was flying. "Ow, what happened?"

Zekrom extended a hand and offered to help his counterpart up off of the ground. "I thought you might know that question Resh, you look pretty disoriented. How about I help you up?"

Reshiram took the black dragon's hand and got heaved to her feet "What are you doing that's so important?"

"Just my hobby." Zekrom replied causally.

Reshiram frowned remembering exactly what that hobby consisted of "Oh Arceus, you are so creepy, I hate it."

Zekrom snickered and returned his attention back to the conversation the two humans were having, momentarily ignoring the white dragon.

* * *

Rio carefully took out a stylus to help navigate the information that was on her Pokedex. After a minute of quiet taps and beeps, Rio's mouth broke into a grin. "Alright, my opinion is that Reshiram is better than Zekrom"

This piqued the dragon duo's interest and Zekrom motioned Reshiram over to his spyhole, where the both listened intently to the human conversation.

Ollie lifted is head slowly and studied the scene proceeding to race over to where Rio was standing leaving the remnants of his camera in a small heap. "What are you talking about?" Ollie questioned, making his way over to the Pokedex in Rio's hands.

Rio smile and handed her Pokedex to Ollie. "Remember when we first got our Pokémon? Well when we were in Juniper's lab she had some awesome information on both of the legendary dragons on her computer, so I took pictures of it all!"

Ollie was stuck in a weird place between excited and worried. "Rio, is that legal?"

Rio looked around sharing some of the worry. "Well, it's been forever since then and nothing has happened, we even talked to Juniper a few times and she didn't say anything."

"Probably because she doesn't know that you took them!" Ollie whisper-shouted even though they were alone in the middle of a forest.

Rio shook it off and swiped to the side a few times on her Pokedex "Doesn't matter, here's the information on Zekrom. Now you're going to read it, argue about it, and feel better, okay?"

Ollie scanned the pictures, more than eager to learn about something so rare. Rio watched and snickered as her friend's eyes gleamed with nerdy satisfaction, content in her mission to cheer him up.

Ollie impatiently thrust the Pokedex back into Rio hands. "From the looks of it, Zekrom is way more awesome than Reshiram. Zekrom has hands and wings while Reshiram has both fused together in one, which looks kind of uncomfortable."

Zekrom gave a glance to his arms and then to Reshiram's. He chuckled and received a powerful, and well anticipated, nudge to his side.

Rio put on a serious argue-ready face. "Like I said before, I think Reshiram is better. It's a fact. Reshiram is a fire and dragon type, eliminating weaknesses to both water and ice-types."

Reshiram leaned over to Zekrom and triumphantly whispered. "HA!"

Ollie contemplated his next move based off of the recent memory of all of the images and text that he had just read.

"Well, Zekrom has electrical antigravity to float around at high speed with little wind resistance, while Reshiram can only fly really fast." Ollie stated his point like it was obvious that it was better.

Rio crossed her arms "Zekrom has electric antigravity to float around at high speed. That's still just floating around, while Reshiram flies."

Ollie was unsure what they were actually arguing about but instead tried focusing on digging deep into the slightly irrational logistics of his brain in order to counter the argument. In this process he closed his eyes in order to imagine the images and text that were slipping out of his short term memory forcing him to spill his entire vat of thoughts.

"It would be very hard for Reshiram to hold something while travelling through the air because its feet are not talons and its hands are on its wings. Because of the lack of wind resistance and lessened effect of gravity it would be much more comfortable to ride on the back of Zekrom. Furthermore if you were flying on the back of Zekrom you would not be shocked because you aren't grounded to anything but if you were to ride on Reshiram's back then you would be uncomfortably hot or burn yourself." Ollie spat out everything, running out of breath toward the end.

Zekrom had wide smile on his face and was leaned up against the tree nearest him. "I like this kid" he chuckled. Reshiram subtly shook her head and trained her attention on the humans waiting for the other one to respond.

Rio gained a confident gleam in her eye; the boy had just said something she could easily shoot down.

"Pokémon don't shock or burn anyone they trust, so the only reason you would be uncomfortable on Reshiram would be if you didn't have permission. Also, if Zekrom has electric antigravity, wouldn't you just be floating around if you got too close?" Rio finished confidently.

"And wouldn't that be awesome!?" Ollie exclaimed, suddenly excited by the idea. "Plus, by that logic, I bet you could fly right next to Zekrom in the air and that is so much cooler than flying on its back. Double plus, since its antigravity and not propulsion, you and Zekrom would be able to lie on your backs and fly through the air if you don't have anywhere to be." Ollie seemed a little less interested in arguing about it, now enthralled in the contemplation of this idea.

Rio was about to say something but Ollie interrupted "You do have a point though… I bet neither would hurt you in any way if they trusted you."

Reshiram turned to the black dragon next to her "What are they talking about?".

Zekrom rolled his eyes. "Like I'm supposed to know how they got this inaccurate information or why they are so adamant about it, all I care about is that I like the one who's supporting me."

Reshiram rolled her eyes right back and they continued listening in on the entertaining conversation.

Ollie smiled, he had something else up his sleeve to say, but was unsure about its meaning. "Zekrom can create thunderstorms, but I'm confused, does Reshiram just blow them away?"

Rio scratched her head, then grabbed her Pokedex and flipped through the pictures from before. "It doesn't really say what Reshiram has to do with the weather in here, maybe I missed a part, but I was so sure I got it all."

Rio paused and realized that she needed a counterpoint for the argument and scrolled through the files.

Reading straight from her hands, Rio choppily read. "Reshiram has the ability Turboblaze; it makes it so that any move that would be nullified because of abilities would work. So, Reshiram could use flamethrower on a Flareon and it would work."

Ollie rolled his eyes "Well, that was fun while it lasted at least."

Rio frowned "What do you mean?"

"If I remember correctly, then Zekrom's ability does the same exact thing." Ollie stated plainly while packing the nearby pieces of ruined camera into his backpack.

Rio hurriedly flipped through the digital pages of her Pokedex to see if Ollie was right. Turned out, Zekrom _did_ have an ability that had the same effects, which caused her to mutter defeated words to herself trying to find a way to reignite the conversation because it was too fun to let it die, but to no avail.

* * *

Zekrom felt the conversation speedily decease as cleanup started and he grunted. "Well, that sure was a short burst of activity; I wonder if it'll happen again?" He was mostly talking to himself. "Better keep tabs on these two, they could be a lot of fun if I keep up observation… what?"

Reshiram was staring at him with a slightly appalled expression. "I have no idea why you think this is appropriate or a good idea, but stop following these people around." Reshiram pleaded.

Zekrom's appearance didn't change, like he expected Reshiram to say something along those lines. "I'm going to keep on 'human watching' because it's fun, and most of the time they never know I'm there."

Reshiram held her tongue for a second, but then realized how Zekrom had worded his answer."Wait, _MOST_ of the time!? What about when they see you?!" The white dragon seemed worried about remaining discreet.

The black Pokémon placed a hand on his counterpart's shoulder. "Relax Resh, they just think they are the luckiest humans alive for few seconds and I fly away into a storm cloud, no harm done."

Reshiram was standing with her jaw dropped "No harm done!? What if they tried to capture you or trap you or something horrible like try to kill you with their machines or captured Pokémon? And quit calling me Resh!"

Zekrom rolled his eyes again "That hasn't happened yet, and I don't plan to let it happen, so you can just relax."

The blue-eyed Pokémon glared at the arrogant dragon in front of her. "But when it _does_ happen I will NOT bail you out, no matter how much you beg, got it?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever. If I can get myself into something I can get myself out, don't worry about me." Zekrom sounded way too confident in himself and that only made Reshiram worry more.

She gave a tired glance at Zekrom and let her eyes have a few heavy blinks.

Zekrom picked up on this and openly laughed despite the immediate human presence nearby. "how are you tired? The day basically just started." Zekrom stated between his laugh. "Well If you're gonna fall asleep here, then I'm gonna leave, okay?"

Reshiram was frustrated and talked through a yawn "Don't blame me, blame that Meloetta and her singing."

The black dragon gave a quizzical look "I'm not even going to ask what you're talking about, but I guess I'll see you later." He took off, forcing his bulky figure through the woods to track down the two humans that had left the premises during their conversation.

Reshiram leaned against a tree and made herself comfortable for her impending nap. "That idiot's gonna get himself in trouble eventually..."

* * *

**A/N TBC: Hmm looks like in this one, the trainers argued for the Legendary Pokémon… who would have guessed? Also all of this is happening in the same universe, didn't seem like it at first, right? Well in the future we play around with this a little more.**

**AN Rio: **So, how'd you all like this chapter? Not much arguing, but it does a nice job tying together with the last one. Please review!


	6. The Birds and The Beasts

**A/N TBC: Surprise! It's a sequel and a direct one at that. Literally taking place right after 'Silver and Gold'. I could put a break line at the end of the last one and it would not be out of place to insert this entire story.**

**Oh and there is a little tribute to first gen with the way we sectioned off the different perspectives, which alternate rapidly.**

**Twobagelscollide: Ho-oh and the beasts**

**Rio: Lugia and the birds**

* * *

The Three Legendary beasts were loitering around in a secluded open field. Suicune lay uninterested and bored with her head between her paws as twin, white, streamer-like tails rippled gently at her sides. Raikou paced uneasily back and forth, his tail twitching nervously as sparks jumped across various parts of his back. Entei stood proud and still with his gaze focused on the section of sky that they had last seen their master depart towards.

Ho-oh had given them direct orders. "Stay here and wait until I return.". But that had been two days ago. Everyone's patience was slowly deteriorating, although none of them were even close to considering disobedience.

Entei's eyes caught even the slightest movements in the sky, most of which were group of flying Pokémon, and each time it was a disappointment. However as the sun was gradually painting the sky brighter, a rainbow materialized right before the beasts widening eyes. Casually Entei erased all traces of unprofessionalism from his stance and turned to face his siblings. "He's here." The legendary said calmly.

Raikou's gaze shot excitedly upward and the electric-type quickly composed himself and joined his brother in awaiting the arrival of their master.

Suicune lazily got up and meandered toward the other two attempting to shake off the drowsiness of immobility to try and appear like she wasn't slacking off.

Ho-oh hastily appeared and spared no time in irritably landing on the ground in front of his loyal subjects. A lengthy gust of hot wind billowed through the surrounding area and caused ripples in the fur of the legendary dogs.

The enraged bird exhaled heavily, trying to avoid unleashing his anger on his innocent subjects. "You three… things did not go as planned with Lugia… in fact, it was worse than the worst-case scenario. Not only did that sanctimonious, egotistical hypocrite call_me_ a slave owner, but he _SUPPORTS_ human kind!" Ho-oh's wings flared in various gesticulations as he ranted at the offended trio.

The beasts exchanged glances of concern and disgust in unison, mostly to just agree with Ho-oh since they really had no idea what he was ranting about. Raikou was eager to interject his opinion at the first opening in the conversation, but the raging phoenix would not let them get a word in.

Ho-oh absentmindedly flared his gold tail feathers in rhythm to his speech "He _was_ an old friend, so I hoped to have him on my side, but he appeared to be ready to defend humanity, which would throw a sizable wrench in my plan. He even had the audacity to support the complacent Pokémon that befriend humans! Speaking of insolence, the Pokémon on the nearby island were just as disrespectful to our conversation as Lugia was to me, watching us like those Arceus-forsaken reality TV shows!"

Ho-oh stopped to take a breath and the Thunder Pokémon jumped at the chance to speak. "Master, you know that we do not see you as a slave owner! Lugia should pay for disrespecting you like-"

The multicolored avian shot a warning filled look at Raikou who instantly knew to shut up. "Raikou please, now is not the time for sucking up!" Ho-oh growled, before selfishly continuing.

"This is just further proof that humanity must be exterminated, but according to Lugia, I am the _**ONLY ONE**_ who thinks that way! The fool went as far as calling me insane! _I'll_ tell you who's insane, everyone who thinks the world is perfectly fine the way it is! All of those idiots can rot along with this dying world!"

Suicune discreetly tried whispering in Entei's ear. "Should we do something? He seems pretty offended by this, and a little… unhinged."

Entei inconspicuously shook his head, remaining silent and keeping his face towards the now suspicious Ho-oh.

Ho-oh slowly squinted at the water-type. "Anything you want to share with me, Suicune?"

The beast violently shook her head, and Ho-oh dismissed the interruption, deeming his venting more important than anything Suicune could have said.

"Looks like I'll just have to find someone else who'll definitely agree with me, someone like… I don't know... maybe Deoxys?" With that Ho-oh flapped hard against the ground blowing the grass around them in concentric circles and began to take off, still livid about the whole situation.

Raikou ran forward a few steps and called out. "Wait! But what do we do until then!?" His roars rivaled thunder but their master pretended not to hear him because the legendary really didn't care what they did at the moment.

Raikou whipped around to face the other two. "What do we do now?"

Entei watched the trailing rainbow slowly fade out of existence and knew that no new order was going to be issued. He gained a pensive posture and hummed, signifying he was deep in thought. "Does not getting an order mean we stay here?" The fire-type asked.

"I don't care what it means, I am _not_ waiting for him to get back here again just so he can yell at us some more." Suicune protested. The three Pokémon got together in a huddle to discuss their next course of action.

It was clear Raikou had thought of something because of the excited look on in his face. "I know! We can go defeat Lugia for him!" Raikou eagerly suggested, looking back and forth between his two siblings.

"The master didn't attack him, so why should we?" Entei countered cautiously, closing his eyes and trying to think clearly about the cause and effect of what the idea implied.

"Sounds good to me" Suicune added, cutting off Entei's train of thought. "Even one of Raikou's crackpot battle schemes beats sitting here and doing nothing."

Raikou's face lit up in delight, the insult flying over his head. "Great, let's go!" He insisted and began to sprint away at top speed.

"Wait!" Entei called out to his overeager brother "I have a better idea."

The electric lion stopped in his tracks, kicking up some dirt and dust that hung in the air around him. "What?"

Entei continued. "OK, Lugia created three beings just like us and of similar elements right? Why don't we split up, each of us taking down one of them, and show Lugia how superior our Master is to him!" Entei's idea made sense to Raikou, and Suicune was willing to go along with anything that would let her get out of that stupid clearing.

A light bulb went off in Raikou's head. "Oh yeah! I remember those stupid birds… I call Zapdos!" and with that the electric-type legendary leapt off into the distance with motivation.

"Okay... looks like I'll confront Moltres and you do the same with Articuno." Entei explained to the sighing Suicune.

"So are we just going to attack them out of nowhere?" The elegant, blue Pokémon asked, not appearing too eager to go looking for Articuno.

Entei paused, apparently not having planned that far ahead. "Um…I guess not. See if they'll actively oppose their master before engaging in combat." The fire-type said.

"Alright." Suicune slinked nonchalantly into the forest and Entei galloped in prideful strides toward the most likely location of the giant fire bird.

-Yellow-

Zapdos was gliding through the air above the abandoned power station, just trying to enjoy the day. He closed his eyes to relax and thought back to Lugia's warning...

-Flashback-

Lugia had gathered the three birds on a small, deserted island in the Orange Archipelago. It was an odd sight to see all four of them hovering in the same area, and tensions were high. The three of them were glaring at each other, but Lugia's presence eliminated any possibility of a fight breaking out.

Lugia had said, "Ho-oh confronted me a day ago. At first, it started out as an argument about whether I do my job right, and who does their job better. But pretty soon, he brought it to the topic of humankind. Ho-oh, sadly, thinks they should be destroyed. He seemed very certain that one day they will be. Please take heed and be careful if he approaches you."

-End Flashback-

Zapdos shook his head to dismiss the memory. _'As if anyone, even Ho-oh, would want to take __**me**__ on.'_

-Red-

Moltres was pivoting in the air, swooping and circling above the home that she knew as the Cinnabar Island Volcano. After the island had been ravaged by an eruption and all the humans had fled, it became the perfect place for the legendary to make a permanent home.

It was obvious that she was being vigilant and watchful to the area around her. She had been thinking about what Lugia said to her. _'No one's tried to talk to me yet, but I should still be careful of Ho-oh. He's a giant flying fruitcake, who knows what lengths that nutter'll go to. Have to stay careful and cautious.'  
_  
-Blue-

Articuno circled above a small snowstorm, making it bigger with each full revolution. She began to tighten her spiral and head up higher in the atmosphere, looking around to check for intruders. _'Nothing, of course, Lugia's always been so wound up. He just needs to... relax. I doubt Ho-oh's going to make a move against us, he's probably over that argument by now. Everything'll be perfectly fine.'_

-Yellow-

Raikou deftly wove his way through the forest, running as fast as he could. "Lugia will _not_ disgrace Ho-oh like that and get away with it!" he thought aloud, further motivating him to continue. A few unfortunate bystanders were trampled because they had no time to react to the speeding yellow tiger.

After a long and strenuous running session, Raikou burst out of the forest. The Thunder Pokémon scanned his surroundings for a half second, locking onto the distant sight of the power plant. In this same glance he saw his target circling above the structure, and started barreling forward once more.

His full-tilt sprint carried him all the way to the edge of the power plant. Metal cylinders adorned the outside of the building, with many red and yellow signs plastered on them and the walls of the building. No entrances or exits were visible from the wall that the tiger approached and there was a rhythmic hum that reverberated consistently throughout the area.

With his eyes trained on the giant black and yellow bird Raikou scaled the exterior of the power plant stealthily, making sure he had the element of surprise. The gliding yellow bird seemed unaware of his presence _'Perfect.' _Raikou thought.

All in one swift movement the tiger-like Pokémon sprang up to the tallest point on the roof and leapt toward his relaxed and unaware victim. The thunder Pokémon let out a battle cry alerting Zapdos to his oncoming assault, but leaft the victim no time to react.

The black, hardened part of Raikou's forehead collided with Zapdos's stomach, causing the airborne Pokémon to do a series of recovery flaps to regain airborne control. Raikou plummeted to the ground and landed on all four paws, remaining undeterred from his goal.

-Red-

As Entei maneuvered through the trees he soon realized that there could be multiple locations where Moltres could possibly be. "How am I supposed to find him?" Stopping in his tracks he thought back to the multiple locations of Volcanoes in his mind. There was the one on Cinnabar Island, and he would have to cross a lot of water to get there, but it wasn't like he hadn't done so before.

Entei picked up speed and headed for the coastline closest to Cinnabar Island.

-Blue-

It didn't take long for Suicune to realize that her comrades' half-baked plan would get them all lost and confused. Her pace started to diminish in speed as she thought of a way to locate the roaming ice bird. A Rattata crossed her path. _'Maybe he knows.'_Suicune thought.

"Hey!" Suicune called commandingly. The now terrified purple mouse froze in place and visibly shook in fear, causing the Aurora Pokémon to give a skeptical look. "Um, okay… Wow, I'm… sorry? Ah, whatever, do you know where I could find Articuno?"

The frightened mouse could barely look Suicune in the eyes. "S-s-sorry Miss Legendary, I w-w-wouldn't know."

Suicune sighed. "Well, thanks anyway, good luck with being terrified of everything." Suicune calmly walked away. _'At least one of these guys has to know something, but I am NOT spending my whole day questioning them one by one... Hmm. I think I have an idea.'_

Suicune stepped out into the middle of the closest clearing she could find, and let out a piercing roar. After a few seconds, swaths of nearby Pokémon began to congregate around her, but Suicune wanted to wait until a good amount were present before speaking. All of the Pokémon were curious as to what a Legendary was doing around this area, and very few knew Suicune as more than just a Legendary Pokémon.

"Hello everyone!" Suicune announced. "Does anyone know where I can find Articuno?" Many heads turned and murmurs of conversation flooded the area as Suicune waited impatiently. Almost all at once heads started shaking back and forth throughout the whole ring of Pokémon.

One Pidgeotto that was perched on a tree close by had his wing raised and waited to be called on like a child in a human school. "Yes, you, with the idiotic tendencies." Suicune called out sarcastically.

The slightly embarrassed Pokémon gave a semblance of a nervous smile with his beak. "Um, I think I heard a buddy o' mine mention a blizzard suddenly appearing up on Mount Silver."

"Ugh, all the way over there? Are you sure?" Suicune fired back.

The Pidgeotto nodded vigorously and Suicune sighed "Thank you, you've been a big help, and the rest of you, uh… thanks for trying I guess." The crowd quickly dispersed as Suicune started in her new direction at top speed, determined not to let the journey take longer than a few hours.

-Yellow-

Zapdos's plans for relaxing were shattered as the electric bird glared down at Raikou and shrieked. "What in the name of Arceus was that for?!"

-Red-

Moltres landed on a ledge near the peak of the Cinnabar Island volcano. She looked around once more, after seeing no one apart from the few Pokémon that made the area their home, she nuzzled into her nearby nest and fell asleep.

-Blue-

Articuno spotted a small pond and flew downwards, landing on the flash-frozen surface. _'This looks like a nice place to take a quick break.'_ She thought. The ice and flying-type settled down and admired the beauty of the snow around her. The snowstorm she had created began slowing down, and pretty soon just a few small flakes of snow were falling down. Articuno peacefully exhaled, thinking. _'This is always the part I like best. Everything calm and quiet, so relaxed, none of the hubbub and noise you get from being near other Pokémon and humans. All alone... peaceful.'_

-Yellow-

"I'm here to teach your master not to insult my master by proving I'm better than you!" Raikou shouted. The air around him crackled until he was enveloped by a yellow aura, and with a second roar he sent a powerful, jagged, stream of electricity toward Zapdos.

-Red-

Entei arrived at the shore of the beach with a distant silhouette of an island that he knew was a location of one volcano. Now, the only problem was getting across. The Volcano Pokémon studied his surroundings and found that a giant log was all that decorated the beach, and the first thought that came into his mind was _'Not a chance'_.

Off in the distance a Lapras was conveniently floating along and minding its own business.

"Excuse me!" Entei politely drew attention to himself, but not nearly loud enough to overpower the sound of the waves. Entei cleared his throat then yelled "Hello!" trailing off awkwardly, but the Lapras did not pay him any mind.

Deciding it was useless to try again he had another bright idea. He walked over to the log, reared back and gave it a powerful shoulder charge which sent it into the ocean. It immediately washed back onto the shore, and Entei but his front paws on it and walked it forward against the tide. The volcano Pokémon never really minded the ocean, but staying in it too long was dangerous.

Once swimming was required he balanced his front half on the log and paddled toward the Lapras. He was only a few meters away when he tried again "Excuse me." he called out at a non-startling volume.

The Lapras' head turned to find a sight she didn't expect… a fire-type floating on a log. "Hello, is everything alright?" The Lapras questioned, slightly alarmed.

"Yeah, everything is just fine, I was just wondering if you could please do me a favor and help me over to Cinnabar Island." Entei said with a well-mannered smile.

The transport Pokémon was hopelessly confused, but was not going to deny a request from a Legendary, especially one that was being so nice. "Sure thing, hop on." The Lapras replied cheerily.

Entei bowed his head a little on top of the log "Thank you very much." He jumped from the giant log and landed gingerly on the back of the Lapras who began swimming toward the island.

-Blue-

With the tip of Mt. Silver visible in the distance, Suicune put her endurance to the test by speeding up even more, eager to finally arrive. As the distance closed between the Aurora Pokémon and the mountain, she noticed that the area gradually gained a snowy coating. The slope of the ground also slowly increased until there were no longer any trees to maneuver through and Suicune was galloping up the mountainside.

While ascending the side of the mountain Suicune noticed something below her, which was a frozen lake with a giant blue bird sitting on top of it. "Oh, of course." Suicune rolled her eyes and instantly changed her direction to going back down the mountain.

Skidding onto the frozen lake, Suicune roused the bird with a half-hearted greeting through heavy panting. After a few second the beast started to explain herself "Alright… you might be wondering… why I'm here… and I'll tell you…" Suicune paused for a second to take few deep breaths to quell her panting.

The graceful bird now looked annoyed and Suicune got to the point "Okay, I _obviously_ interrupted a whole lot of nothing so I'll make this quick. I came here to confront you I had to run for like 4 hours to get here, so it would make it a lot easier on me if you just gave up or whatever."

-Yellow-

Zapdos countered the electricity by unleashing a bolt of his own, the two collided in a stalemate for a few second then fizzled out unspectacularly. The bird gave a hearty laugh, "Ha! You think that _YOU_ could beat _ME_?! I am the most powerful electric-type in_existence_; I could beat you in my sleep." Zapdos arrogantly announced.

-Red-

Moltres yawned and raised a wary eye from her napping position. She gazed out at the ocean and spotted something moving towards the island. _'Is that...'_ Moltres squinted, _'Entei… riding a Lapras? Might as well go and greet him.'_ She stretched, causing the fire to flare on her wings for a few seconds.

-Blue-

"Give up?" Articuno asked in confusion, not quite sure what Suicune was asking, and looking around at her surroundings, she asked. "Is my snowstorm bothering you?"

-Yellow-

The tiger smirked "HA! I don't even need to sleep that's how easily I can beat you! You don't stand a chance!" Raikou bellowed with pride at what he thought was a good comeback.

-Red-

Entei saw Moltres reveal her form on top of the volcano, counting himself lucky that she started descending toward him. Lapras panicked at the sight of the increasing size of this bird and immediately hid herself behind one of the giant rocks scattered around the area.

"Relax, that's just Moltres, she's the reason I'm here in the first place." Entei consoled.

The Lapras felt relieved enough and continued her path toward Moltres who was waiting perched at the shore. The fire bird had an obvious look of curiosity at Entei's bizarre entrance. Entei Jumped as carefully as he could off of the Lapras "Thanks for the ride" He did his best to wave with his paw then he turned to Moltres.

"How are you doing?" Entei asked jovially.

-Blue-

Suicune was taken aback a little by the comment, irrationally ticked off out of exhaustion. "Of course it's bothering me, it bothers everyone! Why do you think you're all alone?" Suicune retorted bluntly before refocusing herself.

"Look, I came here to see if you wanted to do something like... I don't know, maybe convince Lugia to apologize? I had to wait in a field for the last few days few days only to have Ho-oh come back yelling his feathers out about how insulted he felt. I think Lugia hurt his feelings or something."

-Yellow-

"Uh, you do realize that you just said you're weaker, right?" Zapdos pointed out in confusion. Both of the creatures we dead silent as Raikou tried to find the error in his own words.

-Red-

"Oh, I'm good." Moltres replied, "But I'm on edge right now. Lugia said something about Ho-oh wanting humans to die and confronting us about it. I'm trying to avoid that. Wait, are you here about that?" She accurately inferred as the giant bird leaned her head forward quizzically.

-Blue-

"Ho-oh? Lugia?" Understanding showed on Articuno's face. "Oh! Lugia said something about Ho-oh wanting to destroy humanity. Did he send you to talk to me?"

-Yellow-

"Oh yeah? Prove it!" Raikou began summoning a thunder attack. A bolt of lightning shot out of the suddenly darkened cloud above and collided with the beast "This is for what you did to my master!" After being held captive for a brief moment the thick radiating energy was redirected at the flying Zapdos.

-Red-

"Oh, well this is awkward" Entei averted his gaze from the giant bird, worried that he would be the only one unable to complete his task, but something inside forced him to commit to the plan that had thought up in the first place.

"Do you think that you could oppose Lugia and his ideals about humanity and support Ho-oh instead?" Entei asked slowly and with a nervous smile.

-Blue-

"Sort of" Suicune lied. "I am supposed to convince you to, well to put it simply, join our master. Or... defeat you to prove that our master is better." Suicune didn't really feel like fighting after the whole run over here and hoped that the lackadaisical ice bird would take the former offer.

-Yellow-

Zapdos blurred and used Double Team, several copies hanging in random spots in the air. _'What did I ever do to Ho-oh?!'_ he wondered.

-Red-

Moltres shook her head. "No, I agree with Lugia, no matter how bossy and annoying he is. Humans are ignorant and some are greedy monsters, but they, as a race, deserve life." Moltres glanced between Entei and the volcano she called home. "Well, I could give you a little tour if we're done with this now. Besides, this whole argument is between Lugia and your master fruitcake, not us."

Moltres really should have paid attention to her words.

-Blue-

"How about neither?" Articuno suggested, "I just want to be left in peace. Although, I do agree with Lugia a little more than Ho-oh." She added nonchalantly.

-Yellow-

The thick serrated edges of the Thunder attack cut through multiple clones dissipating them instantly, while the real Zapdos made sure that he evaded the thunder until he was the last rendition of himself. Raikou grinned. "If you think you are so powerful then why are you trying so hard to dodge my attacks?"

-Red-

Entei's face twitched in indignation. "Now, you see… Ho-oh is not a 'fruitcake' ok? He is my master, I respect him AND his opinions, which is something that YOU may want to consider sometime!" Entei's volume rose as he fumed at Moltres.

-Blue-

Suicune's attitude was raw. "What do you mean neither? The second one wasn't a choice! If you refuse to join me or refuse to do something about Lugia, I'm gonna pound your freakin' face in!" Suicune yelled, advancing toward the bird on the icy surface.

Suicune paused for a moment and again had to cool down. _'I have to work on my temper.'_ She thought before continuing. "Besides, it'll be a lot more _peaceful_ if you cooperate."

-Yellow-

"I'm the best there is, so I thought I'd give you a fair chance before starting an outright battle." Zapdos arrogantly replied as he started to glide around in a circular pattern.

-Red-

"Oh! I said that out loud?" The absent-minded Moltres hopped around in nervousness and embarrassment. Desperately trying to cover up her slip of the tongue she said, "Sorry, sorry. I didn't mean to say that. I mean, Ho-oh's a little cuckoo in the head, but he's great! I mean, really, if I were a brown-nosing slave, I'd want Ho-oh as slave driver- I-I mean fruitcake! Wait- no, uh, sorry, uh, uh, master!" Moltres smiled awkwardly and thought,_'Oh dear, that whole paragraph was a mistake.'_

-Blue-

"Don't be so uptight." Articuno began skating around on the frozen pond. "Relax, just think about it, talk things through. Do you really want a fight?" Her voice was calm and serene, as were her hypnotic gliding movements, completely opposite to Suicune's tense and awkward threatening.

-Yellow-

"Is flying what you call a fair chance? Why don't you come down here and explain to me why you think you are the strongest electric Pokémon." Raikou growled reading himself for whatever his opponent had planned.

-Red-

Entei flared in anger with each careless insult thrown out of the fire bird's beak. "You… you don't know ANYTHING about Ho-oh! I owe him my life, I'd even risk mine for his… But I wouldn't do it because he ordered me to do so. I would do it because I respect him as my master!" Entei vibrated with bottled rage until he unleashed a guttural roar that caused magma to start leaking from the distant volcano.

-Blue-

"Well, no duh I don't want to fight, but I'm talking to you right now, aren't I? How about you compromise with me instead of standing there and telling me to relax!?" Suicune almost sounded like she was begging... almost.

-Yellow-

Zapdos haughtily said, "Why don't you come _UP HERE_ and tell me why you think I'm not? Oh yeah, you can't! Ha!" The flying legendary taunted as Raikou stood battle ready on the ground trying not to take the insults to heart, and instead prepared his next plan.

-Red-

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to say any of that!" Moltres panicked pulling her wings around to cover the front of her body, while simultaneously peaking over the edge of her creamy yellow feathers.

-Blue-

Articuno stopped skating and tilted her head. "You're stressed. Why don't you try and talk about it?" The calm and friendly ice bird extended a wing in friendship and invitation despite the high-strung remarks being made by Suicune.

-Yellow-

"You may be able to fly but I bet you can't do this!" Raikou's eyes started glowing gold and a rainbow colored beam shot out at Zapdos. The beam surrounded and constricted the giant bird. With a small motion from Raikou's head, Zapdos begun plummeting to the ground. Zapdos was caught off guard at first but quickly recovered dispersing the energy and retaining a hover although it was at a much lower distance.

Raikou smiled "what was that about coming up there?"

-Red-

"If you didn't mean it wouldn't have come out of your mouth in the first place! First you insult my master and now you're lying to my face!" Entei glared with vicious intensity at the cowering Moltres without an ounce of pity.

The Lapras who was floating at the coast was watching with a horrified expression and was extremely thankful to be completely ignored at the moment.

-Blue-

"You want me to talk about it? Fine I'll talk about it! First Ho-oh yells at us and storms off like we're his verbal punching bag! Then Entei and Raikou cook up this half-baked plan to make the jerk feel better and Raikou takes off without a second opinion! I had to ask for directions multiple times, plus it took hours of FULL SPEED running to get here! Now I'm here and guess what!? The whole reason I came in the first place won't cooperate and I still need to get back before Ho-oh realizes we're all GONE!" Suicune ranted and Articuno watched with understanding expression that masked her pity.

-Yellow-

"You're going to pay for that." Zapdos glared. Electricity sparked in the air around him, clouds darkened and Zapdos shrieked, unleashing a massive Thunder attack that speedily snaked its way towards Raikou.

-Red-

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Moltres began flapping around in panic her various flame pores spilling out fire in her nervous frenzy "It was an accident! I'm sure all of you are great pokemon! I could never beat you in a battle, although Zapdos probably could... And Arty knows some water-type moves... uh, never mind. I'm sorry I insulted you and Ho-oh! I'm sure he's perfectly sane no matter what the rumors I started say!" Her world started to spin as she suddenly realized what she had just said and gulped. "Um... whoops."

-Blue-

"It'll be alright." Articuno cooed in a soothing tone. "I'm sure things'll be fine. You have your own life and wishes and dreams, Ho-oh, Entei, and Zapdos can't take that away from you." She stood there on the ice in the middle of a frozen deserted lake still inviting Suicune closer.

-Yellow-

Raikou dug all four paws into the ground tensed for a half second before roaring and flooding the area in a sphere of bright electricity. As the Thunder crashed against the immense amounts of discharged volts it acted like a shield and evaporated the opponents' electricity. The attack only lasted a few seconds, and to Raikou's dismay none of stray bolts found their way to Zapdos.

The electric tiger panted for a second and then let out a deep exhale "That was not even close to what you'll need to defeat me" he boasted.

-Red-

Entei anticlimactically and suddenly calmed down "You know, I like rumors, I think they're fun." the beast was plodding his way closer to Moltres until he was uncomfortably close to the frightened bird. "When I leave I think I'll start one of my own." A psychotic smile flashed on his face for a fraction of a second. "About how a certain ignorant BIRD is in a COMA at the base of the CINNABAR ISLAND VOLCANO!"

Fire rained out his jaw as he launched an anger-filled Fire Blast directly into Moltres's stomach, not even giving the poor, cowering creature a chance to react.

-Blue-

"You know what? I do have my own dreams, but that doesn't matter. I can't leave Raikou and Entei when they have to deal with the same thing. Plus if I do ditch the group then Ho-oh will probably send those two to hunt me down and it wouldn't be hard for them to find me." Suicune admitted, sounding defeated while leaning into the frigid feathers of Articuno's sisterly embrace.

-Yellow-

"Good." Zapdos smiled. "When I take you down, I want it to be fun." Zapdos flew at Raikou with lightning speed, and the four-legged creature couldn't move completely out of the way and was caught several times by Zapdos's rapid Peck attack.

-Red-

"I said I was sorry!" Moltres wailed, twisting her body violently around and preforming frenzied movements trying to fly away, this resulted in low altitude flying while Entei sprang vengefully into action never more than a few yards behind the fleeing bird.

-Blue-

Articuno continued the impromptu therapy session "Well, why don't you tell them how you feel? They're in the same situation you are, maybe they feel the same way." The ice bird suggested quickly. She was still taken slightly aback from the horrible position the depressed beast was in. Along with important position she now held and the crucial next few steps she would have to take.

-Yellow-

Raikou recoiled several times but took the opportunity to remain at a closer range. Deflecting a peck sideways with a swift intentional paw he lunged as hard as he could and sunk his teeth into Zapdos's stiff needle-like feathers "Mur noth gomuhf uhnuh wuh." Raikou's speech was muffled greatly by the uncomfortable wad blocking his mouth.

-Red-

The Volcano Pokémon savagely chased down the escaping Pokémon, trying to take her down with fire-type moves in rapid succession. Flamethrowers made the ash covered rocks glow with heat, as well as attempts of biting and tackling any time she made the slightest mistake and let him catch up.

Moltres, although frightened, knew she needed to get higher off of the ground, and Entei quickly noticed that because of this she was able to pull away a little bit at a time. Entei decelerated and stopped for a pivotal moment to take in his surroundings. After looking at the now nearby base of the volcano he quickly hatched a plan.

He fired a particularly vertical wedged flamethrower to the side of Moltres that was opposite the volcano and took off in that direction of the volcano ahead of Moltres who was now busy dodging the decoy flamethrower. Entei somewhat gracefully sprinted and hopped up the mountain now eye level with the frightened Moltres. Entei dove off of the cliff he was on directly toward Moltres and screamed. "Your apology means nothing to me! Disrespectful scum!" He stomped onto her back with all of his downward weight and momentum.

-Blue-

Suicune sighed "I know for a fact that they don't feel the same way. Raikou's an idiot who would follow Ho-oh off of a bridge, and Entei is Ho-oh's little sidekick slash loyal servant, like I pretend to be... only I think he means it. I can just tell by the way he looks at and talks about Ho-oh with so much admiration, respect, and pride... it's like he enjoys being used." Frustrated sobs threatened to interrupt Suicune's speech, but she forced them back down her throat before the sudden silence became awkward. _'I can't cry in front of a complete stranger'_ she thought proudly, not even noticing the fact that she was being cradled by the Pokémon she was sent to deal with.

-Yellow-

"Huh? What was that?" Zapdos snapped in confusion trying fruitlessly to shake the electric tiger off of his wing so he would fly away "didn't Ho-oh teach you not to talk with your mouth full?"

-Red-

Moltres, unable to recover from the painful, tactical stomp, crashed into the side of the volcano, rocks and debris digging into her wings and face, as she plummeted and skid down multiple levels of jagged rock formations barely able to scream in pain.

-Blue-

"Oh, it couldn't be all bad." Articuno said, with genuine confidence in her words "At least you have siblings that aren't constantly looking for a chance to kill you and take over your home." She thought back to her entire rough history she had with her siblings… the fighting and arguing that had evolved from their original rivalries to the malicious intent and greedy outlook on life, like the only thing that mattered was stealing each other's islands.

-Yellow-

Raikou unleashed his tight clench on Zapdos's wing and spat out a few yellow feathers that stuck into the ground like arrows. "I said, you're not going anywhere!" As if on cue Zapdos retook to the sky with a powerful few beats from its wings that also served to disorient and stagger Thunder pokemon.

Raikou was getting frustrated "Okay, that was not fair at all! You asked me a question, what was I supposed to do?" He asked like letting go of his advantage in the fight was a necessity.

"Well if you want to fight dirty, then let's fight dirty!" he closed his eyes and a light blue orb of energy manifested in front of his mouth. The yellow tiger titled its head back and the orb soared into the sky causing clouds to instantly collect above the two. Rain hurriedly draped over the entire area soaking the dirt underneath their feet and creating a cacophony of raindrops against the nearby forest, but Zapdos didn't seem bothered much to Raikou's dismay.

-Red-

Moltres fell and smashed into several protruding rock structures until coming to a precariously sprawled rest on a small rock platform.

Entei, although successful in his plan, now had to deal with something very versatile… gravity. The fire dog struggled to think of a safe way to handle his landing as he plummeted toward the ground at a terrifying velocity. The side of his body mercilessly struck the slanted ground and roughly tumbled further downward. Entei's back was what finally stopped him when it slammed into a tree-shaped rock which knocked the wind out of the beast, to the point of staggering consciousness.

-Blue-

Suicune furrowed her brow for a second and looked up into the soulful eyes of the arctic bird "what are you talking about? Is that problem actually what you have to go through with the other two? The last time I saw all of together you weren't tearing each other's throats out." Suicune was generally confused about how Articuno described her relationship with Zapdos and Moltres, they always seemed like a happy family to her... Well, the few times she met them anyway.

-Yellow-

Zapdos smirked, which transitioned to an amused chuckle "Idiot." He unleashed a Thunder attack that held more power than the first one. It jumped through the raindrops at incredible velocity striking Raikou dead-on. "Thunder never misses in the rain."

-Red-

Moltres squawked meekly and desperately tried to lift herself up in order to fly away. _'This might be my only chance'_ she thought. Then, the fire-type noticed one wing was jammed under a pile of rocks heavy rocks. _'Oh no. I'm so dead.'_ She craned her neck in order to look over the edge seeing Entei land hard and tumble downward taking a similar beating from the Volcano. But to her horror Entei pushed determinedly back to his paws and began shaking off the shock of his impact. When they made eye contact Entei's eye burned with reckless abandon and he start sprinting up the mountain despite his injuries.

-Blue-

Articuno nodded in confirmation "We don't really hate each other… I think… at least I don't but it's turned into backwards self-defense, we attack each other so we won't get attacked first, it's really not the best way to solve a problem." The ice bird admitted.

"Wow, we are quite the pity party, aren't we?" Suicune rhetorically asked with a friendly smile, the first one that Suicune has donned since her arrival the frozen lake.

"So..." Articuno asked, edging away from her own personal problems. "Just what is this convoluted plan you were talking about? It couldn't be that bad."

-Yellow-

Raikou cringed at the force of the Thunder and tried to shake off the pain. Raikou blinked in rapid succession, his eyes were irritated by his own rain dance because he was trying to look upward into the sky whereas Zapdos was looking down. He tried to rub his face clean with his equally wet and dirty paws managing to further bother his eyes. The beast shut them and started muttering to himself, in order to think out loud "I could hit him with a Thunder... but he has Thunder too... maybe something in the power plant could-GAH!"

Another full powered thunder struck him, this time knocking him over. He was unable to observe the bird preparing the attack and was caught off guard. While lying on the ground he realized that there was no way to tell what was going to come next. The rain that was pounding against his skull and the ground around him prevented locating by sound, his vision was hazy from irritation and the soaked environment erased most scents.

It would have been obvious to anyone except maybe Raikou himself that he was defeated but instead the ambitious tiger sprung to his feet and fired a searing bolt of electricity at the nearest yellow blur. Raikou smiled confidently at the smoky explosion caused by his attack, but was confused when his vision cleared just a little bit. All that remained was a black scorch mark on a wall of the power plant with a yellow triangle sign that had an dull red exclamation point on it. _'Zapdos must have moved!'_ he thought angrily.

-Red-

Entei stood and held one paw up to his head attempting to regain full awareness and tried breathing normally. He had come to a quick rest on a ledge right below his target, and after a few deep breathes he refocused on the pinned Moltres. The eternal fire on the back of her neck was a dead giveaway to her position as I hung slightly off of the platform she was on. Taking off up the volcano again, Entei used all of the ridges and cracks to make sure he got there as fast as possible to finish Moltres. With one last jump he landed stylishly on the slender egg shaped platform that the bird resided on whose eyes were flooded with fear.

Entei soon understood her predicament when he stalked around her other side and saw that her wings were trapped under a few disabling rocks.

"Looks like now my chance to finish you off." Entei said calmly to the bird who was attempting to get away. Somewhere in the back of Entei's mind a voice was screaming at him to stop and was struggling to get him to consider not following through with his malevolent desires. However that voice became irrelevant quickly because it was not Ho-oh's voice and deep down Entei knew that doing this deed would make his master proud.

-Blue-

"The plan? The plan... Oh darn! While we've been here talking, which meant a lot to me thank you for that, Entei and Raikou have been trying to take out the other two legendary birds!" Suicune pushed away from her new found friend and began sprinting across the lake without more of a plan than just trying to stop her siblings' stupidity.

-Yellow-

Zapdos laughed at Raikou's pathetic aim. "I'm behind you, idiot!" the rain almost drowned out the Electric bird's speech but it still caught Raikou's attention.

-Red-

"Ack!" Moltres exclaimed as Entei landed and started to get closer. _'I've got to get out of here!' _Moltres thought. _'Ohhhhh. What to do, what to do?!'_ there were thousands of scenarios flying through her mind, most of them ending in misery for the ensnared legendary, but her adrenaline fueled thought process managed to think dredge up a move she hadn't used for years, but it would have performed with extreme precision.

-Blue-

"Hold on!" Articuno called out stopping Suicune in her tracks, well more like causing her to slide until she stumbled onto the lake shore "You'll never get to both of 'em in time. Besides, judging from what you said, I doubt they'd stop just because you said so."

-Yellow-

Raikou whirled around "If you think you can out speed me your wrong!" the Thunder Pokémon dug hard into the ground with his extended claws and darted forward, leaving behind a white streak of light. Raikou jumped off of the ground and attempted to pounce on Zapdos, but the distance travelled was too great and Zapdos had a wide open chance to move to the side in order to dodge the quick attack.

Raikou plunged toward the earth again but this time he was more prepared for the intense fall and he fired a descent slowing thunderbolt at the ground allowing him to land easily on all fours.

-Red-

Entei hunted around Moltres like he was approaching prey and positioned himself very close to the trapped Pokémon's face. He opened his mouth and prepared to unleash a torrent off fire into the seemingly helpless bird.

-Blue-

Suicune became frustrated with the situation and started to take it out on Articuno "Well, what do you want me to do? Sit here and wait for them to kill each other?" she thought about it quickly and haphazardly until she suddenly understood what Articuno meant as the bird approached her from across the lake "Oh, I get it! But Ho-oh could be anywhere, he said something about Deoxys but I doubt that's where he actually went." There was a long still pause while both of them contemplated what to do.

After about a minute of silent independent thinking, Suicune's eyes lit up with an idea "We could always look for a rainbow, that would tell us exactly where he is! Take me up into the sky so I can look for one." She paused as she realized how self-centered and demanding that sounded. "Oh, uh sorry... please, can you let me fly on you so we can look around in the sky?" the aurora Pokémon scorned herself for her language habits.

-Yellow-

"Hah!" Zapdos laughed, "I've seen Voltorb jump higher than that!" He dove towards Raikou and unleashed another flurry of Peck attacks this time with greater force as his opponent was recovering from his own interesting landing strategy, before quickly rising back up into the air. "Slowpoke! I thought you were supposed to be a legendary?" Zapdos sneered.

-Red-

Moltres flailed about, desperately trying to free her wing one last time before enacting the risky strategy. _'Looks like this is it.'_ The fire bird thought as Entei fired the Flamethrower. Wriggling viciously she managed to minimize the damage to herself and at the same time got into position to use Ancient Power. The rocks dissolved the rest of the Flamethrower and made direct contact with Entei at the same time as shattering the rocks on top of her wing. "I'm free! I'm free!" She cheered out loud inappropriately early.

Entei stood up and shook off the attack it hurt put hurting her was more important. He growled. "Uh oh..." Moltres noticed. _'Gotta get out of her!'_ she took off and flew fast and close to the ground, trying to put as many obstacles between her and Entei as possible as she flew close to the ground.

-Blue-

"No need to ask, sister." Articuno smiled warmly. "Just hop on and we'll get this mess sorted out." Articuno leaned her neck down to the worried water beast. Suicune got on her back as gingerly as she could at the cost of a little bit of speed and Suicune became a little uneasy and unsure about the idea.

-Yellow-

Raikou was irritated be the cockiness of his opponent and frustrated that he couldn't do anything to counter his potential range or position, but above all... it was just painful. No plan came to mind except retreating. _'Could I even get away from this guy if I wanted to?'_ Raikou decided not to press his luck, he instead took a purely defensive stance and stocked himself with the full extent of his electricity.

Zapdos banked around for another peck dive-bomb and Raikou waited for the second his wings tucked in. As soon as they did the bird picked up speed Raikou illuminated the drenched forest with lancing daggers of electricity creating a dome-shaped offensive shield that expanded toward the incoming Zapdos.

The bird's arrogance propelled it forward and instead of opening its wings to dodge, it crashed through the multiple layers of brutal electricity. However Zapdos was not a fool, if one looked closely they could see the electric bird coated itself in its own powerful electricity making a destructive missile out of itself.

Raikou was confident that his shield would have stopped his opponent or forced him to dodge, but when Zapdos turned itself into a giant bullet it was too late the beast to get away. All of Zapdos' weight, speed and power destroyed Raikou on impact, plowing him into a large muddy crater. Wet dirt plopped in thick blankets around the area, and was sloshed around by the addition of more rain.

Once the mud settled the rain had cleared all of the smoke dust and debris from the air the storm subsided. The two of them lay next to each other Raikou on his side and Zapdos sprawled on his back demonstrating his wingspan. A closer look revealed that Zapdos was panting heavily and Raikou's eyes had turned to swirls.

-Red-

Entei growled in frustration and started pursuing the flaming bird once more. The obstacles weren't much, but little by little they separated the two of them. In Moltres's panicked fleeing she faltered by skimming several walls witch allowed Entei to catch up, just as much as she was leaving him behind.

Right When Entei was about to pounce on the bird she made crucial deviation from her pattern. In a risky maneuver Moltres dove down the side of the volcano in a nosedive quickly gaining speed and momentum. Entei jumped determinedly down after her in stages having to use the jutting rock formations as landing points and gradually fell behind.

Moltres picked up speed and did her best to dodge the rock formations although intense damage was taken. About midway down the mountain she forced open her wings and strained them against the air resistance in order to gain immense lift from her fall. This allowed her to shoot far above Entei's altitude causing the beast to become unable to reach her with physical or ranged attacks.

With this new found advantage and position Moltres used it to easily ditch the deranged mutt by gliding high over the ocean and soon disappearing from Entei's sight.

The enraged beast mulled over his failure to defeat someone as disrespectful as Moltres. Crossing a full blown ocean was impossible for him so he tried to think of what to do next. "Maybe I can help Raikou, that idiot probably got lost on his way to the power plant" Entei mumbled disappointedly to himself.

He wandered slowly down to the section of the beach where he was originally dropped off by Lapras. Looking around suggested that the transport Pokémon was no longer in the vicinity but then slowly from behind a rock a terrified, shuddering Lapras head peeked out from behind a rock. It made accidental instant contact with Entei and became petrified in place.

Entei voice was innocent and courteous again. "Excuse me, Ms. Lapras, would it be asking too much for you to give me a ride back to the other shore?"

The trembling Lapras had just seen everything that happened so she made her way over to Entei shaking from her nervousness and fear "S-s-sure" She answered cautiously. Arceus forbid what would happen if she said no. The beast hopped on her back "Thank you. You're really helping me out here". With a heart that was about to beat out her chest the Lapras turned around and started making her way to the other shore like her life depended on it. Which it probably did.

-Blue-

After Suicune gingerly leapt onto Articuno's back. The giant bird flapped hard and took off with her long flat tail feathers billowing in the air currents behind them. Suicune thought about where they had to go, beginning to trace her steps in her mind she tried to discern the general direction that Ho-oh took off in relative to the direction of mount silver. When the task became impossible to comprehend, the beast took her best educated guess "um, veer a little left and try to fly a little higher so we can see farther!" Suicune shouted over the wind Articuno obliged and ascended to a point just below where it would hard for Suicune to breathe.

Only on extremely rare occurrences had Suicune flown before and never this high up. Nausea and pure fear coursed through her tense body, alongside a chill that ran through her spine at drop in temperature. Now the very last thing on her mind at that point was trying to find that rainbow, luckily Articuno was more focused.

-Yellow-

Zapdos struggled to sit up in order to take a look at Raikou and smirked when he saw the beast unconscious on the ground. "Hah." He weakly gloated, "I told that idiot that I'm... the best... there... is..." He almost instantly lost consciousness where the wave of satisfaction overtook the adrenaline rush.

-Red-

_'Gotta find Lugia. Gotta find Lugia. Gotta find Lugia.'_ Her mind was stuck on this single thought and all of her hope was placed in the chance he was home at the moment. Moltres flew all around the Orange Islands looking/waiting for the Guardian of the Sea. She spotted something silvery glimmering in the water near her island. Her thinking then slightly shifted. _'Please be Lugia. Please be Lugia… talons crossed'_

Lugia looked up from where he floated. _'Is that Moltres?'_ he wondered, spotting the bird flying towards him. _'Might as well see what she wants.'_

Moltres squawked and rapidly backpedaled, nearly crashing into Lugia. "Lugia! Help!" she hysterically shrieked. "Entei! Angry! Others! Attack! Heeeeelp!"

Lugia immediately grabbed Moltres and held her immobile with a sort of psychic leash until she stopped struggling and calmed down. Moltres began flapping again once Lugia let her go. "Thanks, I needed that."

"What was it you were saying?" Lugia calmly asked desperate not to reignite the irrational and frantic nature of Moltres.

"Oh yeah!" Moltres said. "I got attacked by Entei on Cinnabar, he said something about Ho-oh. I'm worried about the others." The fire bird eagerly awaited her guardians answer and hoped he was worried enough to take action.

"What?!" Lugia exclaimed, he had expected this kind of thing from Ho-oh but for the legendary beasts to get involved wass crossing some sort of line. "Let's go find Zapdos first, he's a hothead and I'm pretty sure Articuno can take care of herself, at least for now."

-Blue-

"Look!" Articuno nudged her head at a point to their left. "A rainbow!" Sure enough, it didn't take long for a rainbow trail to become visible. I looked like it was only a little ways off as well, and where there was a rainbow, there was Ho-oh.

-Yellow-

Zzzzz…

-Red-

Entei leapt off of the Lapras and slid a little on the sand of the beach, proceeding to give a slight bow of his head "thank you so much, you've been a big help."

Lapras with her heart still pounding nodded back. "You're welcome… uh… BYE!" the distressed Lapras fled the scene as fast as she could, never looking back.

Entei was drained from the chase he gave Moltres, but still had enough energy in him to keep a steady trot toward where he knew the power plant was located.

-Blue-

Suicune did not care what Articuno was saying, only that she held on for dear life. Articuno started to bank for the turn, to which Suicune reacted by spawning claws and digging herself in to Articuno's now tender back.

A pained squawk shattered the good news and Suicune immediately realized her mistake opening her eyes and retracting her claws. "sorry, sorry I didn't mean to… the turn just startled me… hey is that… Look Articuno a rainbow! I think we just found Ho-oh!"

With half-lidded eyes Articuno approached the disintegrating polychromatic ribbon.

Out of the corner of his eye Ho-oh spotted something blue flying towards him. He slowed to hover and whipped himself around to see… Articuno? And… was that Suicune on her back? More shocked than anything else, he waited for the two to approach.

"Suicune, what are you doing here? Where are Entei and Raikou, and may I ask why you are riding Articuno?" Ho-oh assaulted the duo with demanding questions.

The water type looked down and away reluctant to tell the truth to her already perturbed master "Well Ho-oh… master you see… there might be, just a little bit of a problem… Once you left, Entei. Raikou and I, kind of… uh…you tell him!" Suicune lowered herself in a futile attempt to hide on Articuno's flapping form.

-Yellow-

A Voltorb rolled out of the power plant to see if he could pinpoint the cause of all the noise and squawking he'd heard earlier.

"It better not be those stupid Rattata again..." he grumpily muttered. Rolling out onto the area Zapdos and Raikou had used as a battlefield, he started hopping and screaming. "Stupid kids! Get out of he-eeeeeeek!" He spotted the two unconscious Legendaries and hurriedly rolled back inside the power plant.

-Red-

"The power plant ought to be around here somewhere..." Lugia muttered. "I need to get out more. The power plant area is nothing like I remember it." The silver avian canner his neck in multiple directions continually failing to gain a sense of direction for the changed area.

Moltres cleared her throat and said, "Um... well. Lugia, the power plant is actually a few miles east of here." Spoken innocently and helpfully Moltres actually enjoyed the fact that she got to tell Lugia where to go.

Lugia stared blankly at his creation "Oh."

-Blue-

Articuno sighed, disappointed in Suicune but began explaining anyway. "You see, Ho-oh. Thing is, Raikou and Entei hatched some half-cooked plan to confront Moltres and Zapdos, and dragged Suicune into it to find me. Something about an argument that you had with Lugia."

-Yellow-

"Should I say anything?" Voltorb wondered out loud rolling back to his usual spot until an idea dawned on him. Suddenly changing direction He bumped into just the person he wanted to see, that loudmouth Electibuzz.

The Bipedal electric monster was not surprised at the encounter as Voltorb tend to roll into everything. "Hey, Jordan… everything alright? You look like you're in a hurry." He was generally friendly but loud nonetheless.

Jordan the Voltorb smiled to himself. _'Perfect'._ He took a deep breath "Hello, Elliott I was actually just about to check outside to see if something was wrong, but I have to go and... do... a thing... could you go check for me?"

Elliott stared quizzically at the Voltorb that he had known for years. "Uh, okay. Sure thing." While the Electibuzz was walking away he couldn't help but ask. "Hey Jordan…" He caught the red and white sphere just before they each rounded a separate corner "what can you POSSIBLY be doing right now?"

The Voltorb gave a quick nervous look toward Elliot and squeaked out "Yes" then sped away

Elliott didn't quite know how to respond to that and instead proceeded to leave the building. Only the steady hum of the generator was present in the power plant until… "HEY EVERYONE COME LOOK AT WHO'S OUTSIDE!" Elliott's booming voice radiated off of the steel walls of the power plant and a certain Voltorb sighed in relief.

-Red-

Entei wandered onto the grounds near the power plant to discover a particularly bizarre scene. Voltorb, Electrode, Magnemite, Elekid, and Electibuzz were surrounding what seemed like a large crater in the ground.

Entei didn't want to disrupt anything so he tapped on the magnet of the nearest Magnemite "Excuse me, what happened?"

Without turning around the Magnemite replied in a choppy electronic voice. "The legendary beast Raikou and the legendary bird Zapdos are both lying unconscious in that crater. Can you believe it?" the personable Magnet Pokémon turned around to put a face to the friendly voice and choked on his disbelief "En…tei."

Entei watched suspiciously as the Pokémon's one and only eye rolled back into its head, and its previously floating body clunked to the ground. '_How rude.'_ Entei thought as he kicked its body out of the way and pushed through the crowd, awarding him a cacophony of excited and worried conversation from the gathering.

Entei stood in the crater and shook his head slightly at the comatose state of the two Legendary Pokémon. He took a deep breath and announced "Could everyone please leave!? I will take care of both them myself if you don't mind!" Each member of the crowd took their last glance at the scene and wandered away leaving the fainted Magnemite as the only remaining observer.

The Volcano Pokémon pondered his next move, staring at the two and slowly walking closer to Raikou muttering "Idiot". But something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. Something silver and something on fire were coming in from the air to his left, if he was going to take out Zapdos then it had to be now.

-Blue-

Ho-oh glared in rage, fully understanding what his dogs had set in motion wihout needing to hear their entire plan "You… did…WHAT!?" his golden tail feathers flared and he started flying away closely followed by the pair of blue Pokémon "You disobedient, irresponsible, unappreciative brats! Did you honestly expect that to work!? If you wanted to do something useful you could have gone after them as a team! You three are a complete waste of time and energy! You might have just simultaneously destroyed every ounce of trust I had in each of you. Congratulations on making your own lives miserable! And what, are you best friends with Articuno now, Suicune? If I ever send you eliminate someone, now I know you'll become best friends with the target! How useless can you be?" Ho-oh ranted and slowly increased in speed in the direction of what the duo suspected to be the power plant.

Suicune was a little teary-eyed at being called a waste of time and energy, but didn't want to risk not answering her master's question "Articuno was kind enough to listen to me but I wouldn't call us best friends." Suicune stated evenly, effectively trying to hide her sadness but still wiping at her eyes with her paws.

Ho-oh shot a look at the aurora Pokémon "Are you implying that I DON'T listen to you Suicune?"

Suicune tensed 'this was a big mistake… I should have never come to him in the first place' Ho-oh was waiting on her to answer she had to say something. She looked down at Articuno who gave an imperceptible nod that elevated her confidence "Um… yes?"

Ho-oh growled "I thought that since you came to tell me of the idiot endeavor that you comrades have started, I could still call you someone loyal, but now I see that that idiotic bird you're standing on is your pitiful crutch… I'll deal with you later, right now Entei and Raikou are more important."

-Orange- (Yellow+Red=Orange)

Lugia and Moltres arrived on the scene to see a large group of electric-types surrounding and floating over what appeared to be a crater. Along with the massively more important figures of unconscious Zapdos and Raikou who were lying next to conscious Entei.

"What's going on here?" Lugia boomed capturing the attention of the entire power plant crowd.

-Blue-

Ho-oh had become a barely visible speck on the horizon by the time Articuno got over her shock at the rainbow legendary's harsh words.

"It's alright, Sui." Articuno cooed. "Come on, let's go find your brothers." Not risking a leisurely pace the ice bird decided that she would fly as fast as she could to catch up to Ho-oh which terrified Suicune.

-Orange-

Entei and the dispersing crowd of electric types looked up, and all of the terrified innocents fled the scene instantly.

Entei growled and yelled up to Moltres to who were both hovering behind Lugia "You know that's not very honorable Moltres, going to get you master so he can fight your battles for you"

Everyone went silent as something caught Lugia's eye. They all followed his gaze until it rested on a quickly approaching form of Ho-oh which made Entei visibly excited.

"Master, you're here!" Entei exclaimed as Ho-oh entered the rapidly growing group of Legendries, Ho-oh surveyed the damaged surroundings especially the crater which two Pokémon lay unconscious in. "Shut up Entei, let me ask you one question… WHAT MAKES YOU THINK THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA!?" the rainbow Pokémon shouted aggressively.

Entei put his head down in shame "When you came back you complained about Lugia so we all thought we should teach him a lesson" this comment only fed the fire of Ho-oh's angry demeanor and annoyed attitude.

-Blue-

Suicune sighed shakily on Articuno's back while she resumed travel toward the power plant "I think I just made everything worse. I screwed all of us over by getting _him_ involved"

They made their way across the sky and entered in on the conversation just as Ho-oh was screaming at Entei.

"Now, now, Ho-oh." Lugia said, trying to draw Ho-oh attention away from Entie because in way he was partially responsible for this in first place "Calm down a little, they were only trying to please you. It's the thought that counts. Unless you mess up big time, but Entei and Raikou were only trying to make you happy." Even though he didn't approve of the way they handled the situation he didn't like how Ho-oh verbally abused them, on what seemed like a daily basis.

Moltres squawked as a light bulb went off in her head, "What about Suicune? You don't think she got Articuno, do you?" before Lugia could answer, Moltres quickly added in, "If she is gone, can I have Ice Island?" In a far less concerned-for-her-sister's-safety tone of voice.

Lugia glared but then softened as he felt the dual presence arrive right above Moltres "No you cannot have Ice Island, Moltres. And both Suicune and Articuno are hovering right above you."

"Eeek!" Moltres looked up nervously to see Articuno with Suicune on her back. The ice bird was glaring intently downward directly into Moltres's eyes "What was that about Ice Island, Mo?" Articuno warningly asked.

"Er, nothing!" Moltres responded, resuming her previous position and failing to pretend like it never happened

Entei gasped when he saw who was on Articuno's back "You traitor!" He unleashed a rage filled fire blast aimed directly at the ice bird. To which Suicune responded by shooting a hydro pump to cut her brother's attack off unleashing a giant cloud of steam before Lugia flapped it away.

Entei stopped looking angry and began to look heartbroken "So… you defend her… Fine! Apparently Ho-oh doesn't mean as much to you as someone you just met, how dare you be so disrespectful?!"

"Entei!" Ho-oh roared and the beast spun around instantly "yes?"

The rainbow Pokémon descended landing on the ground near Entei "Did I NOT just tell you to shut up? That was an order! Suicune was the one who told me about your ill-conceived plan so by FAR she is the most loyal of you three right now, and considering that she IS a traitor, that says a lot!"

Suicune shuffled around on Articuno's back, unsure of whether that was supposed to be a compliment or insult. Ultimately she decided that it would be best to stay out of the conversation even if it was about her.

Raikou and Zapdos were beginning to stir from the sound of their respective master's voices.

It was Zapdos who woke up first. He yawned and stretched fluffing out his feathers before noticing he was completely surrounded and in the middle of what appeared to be a faceoff between Lugia and Ho-oh.

"Ack!" he choked out coughing on his own saliva for a brief period of time.

Moltres heard him and nudged Lugia. "Look. Zapdos isn't dead yet."

Suicune was concerned about her brother and how he looked so beat up. She called out to him "Raikou, get up, Ho-oh is here!" trying to prepare him for the yelling session he would most likely have to endure after he woke up.

Deep within Raikou's mind he heard the voice but had trouble placing who it belonged to; however he recognized the word Ho-oh enough for life to rush back into him. Attempting to spring to his feet like the energetic Pokémon he usually is, caused him great pain from the soreness and damage obtained from the battle.

He looked up and around at what he thought was the scene of his demise... Ho-oh and Lugia were in the same place along with all of the legendary birds and Entei. Suddenly he remembered everything, and spun around to find Zapdos in an equal state of worry and confusion to the scene around them.

The voice he had heard earlier came from far away and didn't belong to any of these people it belonged to his sister, but he didn't see her standing anywhere _'maybe she left'_

Then the damaged Raikou addressed Ho-oh "Hey master, I almost beat Zapdos for you, but I failed, what are you doing here are you-"

"Raikou!" Ho-oh yelled interrupting the beast's jumbled information "All three of you are in trouble when I'm done here, which I am!" He turned his attention to Lugia "They will get punished immediately, just keep your birds in check as well so this doesn't happen again… although I doubt you will." with a scornful scoff Ho-oh gestured for the trio to return to formation.

"It's fine, Ho-oh." Lugia sighed. "I'm sure that neither Zapdos nor Moltres retaliated much after Entei and Raikou attacked."

Ho-oh scoffed again twitching a little from the unpleasant qualities found in Lugia "Please, it sickens me how much blind faith you have in those careless creations of yours. See those blood marks and bruises all over Raikou? What do you think he did? Punch himself in the face over and over again? Do you even see the dog riding the bird? My fools are weak-minded, it would had to have been your cocky subordinates who instigated the fights in the first place."

Lugia laughed a friendly, joking laugh and retorted. "Oh, well what about Moltres? Entei is perfectly fine while Moltres is scratched and bruised all over. Heck, even her flames look injured. And last I checked, Articuno and Suicune seem like friends, they were the ones who reported your beasts idiotic plan to you so what do they have to do with anything?" Lugia was interested in what the iridescent avian had to say to explain this. Staying calm on the inside was a lot harder than staying calm on the outside

"Either way, my three acted on their own and as a result indirectly defied my will, and look where it got them. This is the kind of behavior that your style of ruling creates, and my temporary lapse allowed. Creations must learn respect, because those that bore them into the world will be held accountable for all of their failure, which is exactly what is happening right now." Ho-oh lectured but then rewound Lugia's last comment in his head.

"Those two?" Ho-oh gesture to the both Suicune and Articuno "I don't know what kind of high they are on, but I could have sworn they have never spent more than a few minutes together, before today… I don't even want to know what's gotten into them."

"Respect, maybe?" Lugia seemed amused. "It was out of loyalty and respect for you that they acted the way they did. Or at least Entei and Raikou, not sure about Suicune, and at least part of Raikou's reason was looking for a fight. The way they seem willing to do anything for you makes me wonder if you ever set them straight on their view of you as master."

"If what they did was out of loyalty and respect they would have consulted me before doing it! I think they did it for selfish reasons, wanting their own spotlight, clamoring to be the favorite; they've pulled stunts like this before. I remember once not so long after my tower was destroyed in the fire they each tried to construct their own tower for me. I was genuinely touched… but… they hadn't even let me enjoy it for a day, not one day! A few hours later I overheard them arguing about whose I liked the best, THAT is NOT respect"

A naïve voice cut the tension "Oh yeah, that reminds me, which one was the best?" Raikou asked innocently as Ho-oh shook with ire.

"RAIKOU!" Ho-oh screeched "I will destroy your desire to live! Shut up!"

There was a pregnant uncomfortable silence hanging in the air as everyone waited for someone else to say something

"Really?" Lugia shook his head. "You're lucky. Entei, Raikou, and Suicune care about you. Can't you see that they just want to be recognized and shown the same care? They see you as family."

"Just as Ducklett imprint on the first thing they see after hatching I expected nothing less when I created them. They follow me around with unrealistic expectations of affection but the truth is I don't own them. They can stay or go, I don't really care, but when they stick around just to pull stunts like this it doesn't seem worth the trouble." Ho-oh took off and turned away from the group "Lugia if you want them you can have them." With that, a rainbow appeared around Ho-oh and he flew off towards an unknown destination.

This was exciting and interesting news to explore for Suicune as she had never even played with concept of leaving before today and now I might be able to become a reality for her. But for Entei and Raikou it was a heart crushing revelation that left them stunned and unwilling to go after their master. Maybe Suicune could convince them to leave Ho-oh but stay with her. They never left each other anyway and it would probably be more pleasant without Ho-oh around, although now might not be the best time to bring it up.

Lugia awkwardly cleared his throat and said, "Well... You could all hang around if you want to."

Suicune was elated to have that burden off of her chest and finally have different life with someone who she could call a friend but she wouldn't do it if Entei and Raikou didn't agree along with her.

Raikou quickly reengaged in his normal energetic and carefree composure. "Zapdos is an awesome sparring partner I would definitely want to hang out with you guys."

Entei remained silent, but at the end of Raikou's announced decision Entei took off in the direction that Ho-oh left toward. Moltres instantly sprang into action feeling that Entei's hurt feelings were somehow her fault. She easily caught up to the battle damaged beast and cut him off by landing in front of him.

She quickly spit out her point before Entei ran further. "Why would you want to go back to someone who doesn't value you as a Pokémon when you have someone as compassionate as Lugia willing to take you in?!" the fire dog remained silent and simply did not move from his position despite Moltres' barely convincing words.

Moltres invasively nudged closer "Come on, you don't need him for anything, you're worth more than he is… I really mean that you know." Entei lifted his head slowly and made brief eye contact with the Pokémon he was trying to kill earlier today, as she spoke to him Entei only got angrier that such praise was so easily obtainable from anyone else but his master.

There was a decisive silence. '_I can't leave Raikou and Suicune no matter how much Ho-oh means to me, they are who I should be thinking about.'_

Entei hung his head low and sighed as he turned around and slowly walked back toward the group. When he returned Lugia sighed in relief, _'Now they can be happy' _he thought, proud of his own actions. He then sighed _'But how am I going to take care of all of them?'_

* * *

**A/N TBC: more chapters to come that tie things back to previous chapters, but wow… did this one turn out long...**

**AN Rio:** There's more coming, and another commercial too! I'm not sure when though... Ah well. Please Review!


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